The Art and Dance of Reconciliation
by ssjEasterBunny
Summary: What if Beastboy hadn't spoken those final, fateful words to Terra that night at the carnival? A new sequence of events unfolds, and these two heroes must each navigate the aftermath.
1. Crossroads

_Author note: I've decided to revamp this story, which was originally posted with great reception many years ago. Although it still gets good reviews, my writing has matured immeasurably in eight years and there are _many_ potential improvements to this story. It's been a lot of fun revisiting this work, and I hope it'll be a good read for fellow Titans fans!_

T T T

**I. Crossroads**

"Beastboy… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry… I never meant for any of this to happen…"

"Then why did you let it?"

"I don't know, okay? I don't know. Slade… he helped me… saved me from myself. He said I owed him but I—"

"So it was all a game? You were just pretending?"

"No! You said you'd be my friend no matter what… remember?"

He didn't know what to say as he took in her despairing face and sad eyes. Their usual glow had been replaced by tear that glistened even in the dim light of that run-down house of mirrors. A trail of salty moisture ran down her face—alongside her delicate nose, over her quivering lips, and finally onto her soft chin where individual drops escaped one by one, as if from a leaky faucet. In this single moment in time, all of the blonde girl's features quivered faintly as she attempted futilely to maintain her composure.

Beastboy wanted to spit in her face. She had some nerve to ask for his friendship right after selling the Titans out to Slade. And how dare she make it so hard for him to turn away now? And yet he couldn't shake those eyes, desperately searching his soul for any compassion that may have survived the betrayal.

"Come, apprentice."

The deep, smooth voice echoed throughout the room without a source, beckoning her into the darkness. Terra's eyes fixed on Beastboy's even more pleadingly, if that was possible. He was her only chance for redemption and escape from this nightmare that had spun to tragically out of her control.

With a blank, even stoic expression on his face Beastboy reached out his hand toward the girl's face and impassively touched a tear on her cheek bone, as if conducting an experiment to see if it was real. He wiped it away with a gloved finger, but his distant stare offered her no reprieve.

There was no time to weigh the sins against the circumstance. The Titans had taken her in as part of their family, and only scum could have thrown such generosity back in their faces by giving away all their weaknesses and exposing them in their sleep. At the same, who was safe from that masked man's manipulation? There was simply no way to reconcile the situation in mere seconds' time. It was now or never.

No matter what the case, Beastboy decided, he couldn't let Slade take her again. He was sickened by what she had done that night and he hated her even more for appointing him as judge and executioner. For, despite his anger, they both knew that he could never play the role of executioner.

Rising to the occasion, the green Titan stepped into the center of the room, surrounded on all sides by a circle of mirrors. His body grew larger and hairier, taking on the form of the angriest, most vicious gorilla that he could create.

Throwing his massive fists into the air and rumbling the ground under his weight, his deep gorilla voice let out a booming roar that was somehow distinctly intelligible:

"SLADE!"

T T T

_Author note: Reviews would be awesome!_


	2. The Indecisive Executioner

**II. The Indecisive Executioner**

"SLADE!"

It boomed throughout the entire room, the glass mirrors resonating loudly.

Then there was silence, as the last few vibrations dissipated. No one moved or even breathed. The green gorilla stood ready, eyes and ears probing for the slightest disturbance. Terra stood close behind him, her face flushed and her eyes hanging on each passing moment.

"Come, apprentice."

Slade's first mistake; Beastboy's keen gorilla ears had picked up the voice before it could echo and his reflexes sent his fist straight up into the ceiling. As debris flew and clouds of dust poured from the hole, he lugged his arm across the ceiling and back down, dragging in his hand the shape of a limp person. With a crackling thud, he jammed the person directly into the ground, causing the floor to split in several places and kicking up another cloud of dust.

Despite her ability to manipulate the earth, Terra hid her face behind her arms to shield herself from the shooting debris. The giant gorilla pummeled the figure deeper and deeper into the ground, causing the ground to shake as if from an earthquake, against which Terra had to struggle to keep her balance.

Eventually, after the entire floor was filled with fissures, the figure managed to catch one of the monstrous fists before impact. He then swiftly brought his feet up for an upward kick to Beastboy's face. Though massive and powerful, his gorilla body wasn't the most graceful of forms, and he collapsed backwards in slow motion to the ground. He landed hard, reverting back to his dazed human form.

Rushing to press his advantage, Slade lifted his dazed opponent by his throat and delivered several critical blows that left him hanging limp in the air.

"Your savior," he remarked, turning to Terra and noting the look on her face—one of mental paralysis; she wanted to help but couldn't bring herself to move. "You'll pay for betraying me," he added.

With that, he lifted Beastboy above his head with both arms, about to slam him down into his knee for the final blow. But just as he had lifted his arms to their highest, he noticed something was wrong; he was suddenly holding above his head a fully-grown orca whale, which came crashing down on top of him!

Yet another dust cloud was kicked up, and within it, Terra could make out two figures fighting in center of the room. As the visibility improved, it became clear that Slade was duking it out with what appeared to be a green kangaroo, standing on its tail so that its feet were free to kick. Both opponents were delivering quick punches and kicks, Slade using his armor to block Beastboy's attacks while Beastboy took advantage of his swift form to dodge Slade's attacks. Still, neither could avoid all of their opponent's attacks and both were taking damage. Soon it became apparent that Beastboy's four free limbs had given him the advantage over Slade's two, but it was also apparent that attacking with four limbs was tiring him out more quickly.

Eventually, Beastboy managed to push his advantage by attacking with more limbs than Slade had to block with. He landed two hits at once—one to Slade's chest and one to his face—then immediately followed with a blow to his upper leg, a strike to his left shoulder, and a hard smash in the face that effectively knocked his opponent off balance.

Then, he quickly returned into his gorilla form and, towering over his stunned opponent, and grabbed Slade by the leg. Everyone in the room knew what was coming as Beastboy swung Slade like a rag doll and hurled him at the wall opposite Terra, thereby positioning himself between them. The glass mirror shattered on Slade's impact, sending glass shards slicing through the air towards the two teens. Terra raised her arms forward with a grunt, mustering her abilities to create a neutralizing wind of dust that dropped the shards harmlessly to the ground.

A minute passed during which nobody moved but remained ready to react. Slade had pulled himself to his feet and stood limp at the edge of the room, clenching his left shoulder with his right hand. Beastboy stood in the center in his human form, poised for battle but panting heavily. The silence was broken, however, when Slade turned his back and began to walk away.

"You can have the girl." Then to her, "If he even wants you."

Then, with the ease of surprisingly few steps, he faded into the shadows and had made his escape. Beastboy remained alert, expecting a deceitful counterattack at any moment. But after a minute or two, he animalistic senses hadn't picked up any other signs of life in their vicinity.

Satisfied that the fight was over, he dropped his stance and turned to Terra.

"Thank you," she whispered, moving towards him and putting her arms around. "Thank you." A part of Beastboy savored her embrace, while other parts of him disdained it.

Terra let go and stood before him. She looked to him but received nothing in return; only his exhausted, stoic expression stared back at her. What did it mean? Did he love her or hate her? Was he her friend? Why else would he have saved her?

She recalled the conversation they'd shared together on the Ferris wheel earlier that night. It seemed like it had occurred an eternity ago, as if in previous life. She'd intended to confess her awful actions, even though she'd dreaded the moment afterward, when she was sure that he would leave her. The words he'd spoken still resonated within her: _"I promise, Terra, no matter what."_ Maybe it was the way he'd held her hands in his, or maybe it her own yearning for another chance, but something allowed the naivety of those words to be lost on her. In this moment, there were no other signs and she couldn't help but cling to those distant echoes.

Beastboy struggled internally. Even under the circumstances, letting go of this girl was proving to be the most difficult thing he'd ever done. No one understood him like Terra did, and after weeks of their cat and mouse, he didn't want to imagine returning to life that. And yet, every fiber in his body—his dignity, his logic, and his loyalty to the Titans—screamed at him to walk away from this poison. Who knew what kind of onslaught Terra had allowed into their home? For all he knew, they were dead at this very moment. And that made his decision clear.

"I don't even know what to say," he spat at her conclusively, turning and walking away from her.

She tried to counter, "Beastboy, I'm sorry—"

"Save it," he interrupted, not wanting to be tempted any more. "Just get lost. We're done here."

Terra stood in shock as if she'd just lost everything. Indeed, she had lost everything, and she no longer made any attempt to hold on to her composure.

Unseen to Terra, Beastboy's harsh expression had faded the minute he'd turned away, and he too could felt his jaw and facial muscles working to hold back their spasms.

He stopped when he got to the doorway and neither person breathed; one last chance to turn back.

"Good bye, Terra," he said with his back to her.

Beastboy forced himself to step forward and continue walking away. He reached the outside world and immediately took the form of the first animal of flight that came to mind, eager to leave this horrid situation. Terra remained in the house of newly shattered mirrors, feeling more alone than she ever had before she'd met the Titans, and without even her own reflections as company.

T T T

_Author note: Reviews would be awesome!_


	3. Reaction and Accommodation

**III. Reaction and Accommodation**

Having survived Slade's attack, the Titans had been up all night fighting and talking. They'd searched for any leftover robots and begun repairs on the Tower. Plenty of debris still remained scattered about, when Beastboy slumped through the elevator door and collapsed onto the couch.

He told them how their security had been breached; how it was that two hundred robots were able to get inside and nearly kill them. Terra had sold them out.

"I knew we couldn't trust her!" Raven exclaimed with an uncharacteristic fury, causing the lights to flicker and some of the walls to crack. She took a breath to calm herself, and then added, "I knew this would happen."

No one responded at first, instead standing solemnly until Cyborg spoke.

"I didn't," he admitted. "I trusted her. I thought she was part of the team." He thought they'd been good friends. They'd played video games and made fun of each other's music countless times since she'd become a Titan.

"I did, as well," Starfire said glumly. Terra had been the only one to like the Tamaranian's cooking, not to mention the only friend with whom she could talk to about girl things. They'd shared hours of conversations during which they'd confessed secrets and Terra had given her tips on how to be a girl on Earth.

"We all did," Robin stated. "She was a Titan, and Titans trust each other." He glanced over to Beastboy, knowing as well as any other Titan that the changeling had been the closest with Terra. But whatever was on his mind, he didn't say it.

Raven spoke instead, "Well not anymore. The Titans are back to five members."

"Yeah."

"Agreed."

Although Beastboy agreed with the team's conclusion, he hadn't even begun to get a grasp on the whirlwind of emotions that stormed in his brain. In any case, this conversation wasn't fixing anything. He stood up and the others watched in anticipation. But rather than say anything, he turned and walked out for the second time that night, avoiding eye contact with anyone else.

The other Titans stared empathetically, but knew there was nothing they could say to heal such a fresh wound.

T T T

Robin had waited until the other Titans had busied themselves with repairs/video games/Tamaranian gelatin mold cooking before he started down the hallway toward Beastboy's room. As he reached the green teen's door, the other Titans could be heard in the distance resuming their usual activities.

"Take that! And that, and that!" Cyborg was shouting at a video game. "Booyah!"

Robin was about to knock on Beastboy's door when he thought he heard a faint, high-pitched sound. It was getting louder and louder…

"Star… STAR…" Cyborg's heavy footsteps could be heard running into the kitchen.

BOOM! Then silence.

Robin was about to run back and see what had happened when Raven calmly levitated past him in the same direction.

"I'll handle it," she said in her monotone. Robin nodded and returned to his task.

He knocked on Beastboy's door. He waited but got no response. He knocked again: still nothing. It wasn't locked, so he pressed a large button on the keypad and the door slid open to reveal an unkempt bedroom with no Beastboy. A gust of cool morning air took the team's leader by surprise, and he saw that the giant window at the end of the room was wide open. It didn't take Batman's disciple very long to conclude how the two lovebirds had flown the coup last night.

As he stepped out of the room, Robin knew where Beastboy must be.

Terra's door was also unlocked, and he didn't bother to knock this time before entering the room. Beastboy sat on her bed, his arms around his knees, staring out at the morning sun. Robin stood by the window and gazed out as well, giving Beastboy time to form his words.

"You can say it," he offered.

Beastboy waited before obliging. "I think I loved her."

Robin said nothing, just continued to gaze out the window.

"And I thought… you know, that she…"

"She did. We all knew that. You two were inseparable"

"But she betrayed us!" he replied. "Even if it was Slade's fault, she could have done something!"

Robin waited, letting him finish his thoughts before he spoke, without looking away from the window. "I know something about how Slade can be. He's manipulative and Terra was a sitting duck." He waited while both of them let that sink in. Then he continued, "Even still, you're right. She almost got the three of us killed."

"Three of us?"

"Well why do think she took you with her when she left?"

"She fought for me against Slade," he admitted, "when he ambushed us at the carnival."

Talking about the previous night made it real for Beastboy, but it was also helping him to accept it. Robin was a good leader, always able to identify exactly what the other Titans needed.

So Terra had tried to save him. She'd left her communicator behind; maybe she'd wanted to run away with him, to leave both Slade and the Titans behind for good. With him. He couldn't blame her for wanting to escape her past, but it didn't change what she'd done.

Beastboy's expression changed and he said firmly, "She betrayed you."

Robin turned, not expecting this. Beastboy wasn't usually very good at seeing past his emotions.

Beastboy continued, "And Cyborg. And Raven and Starfire. She didn't try to save any of you."

Robin nodded, then turned and walked to the door. It slid open and he stood in the doorway. "These things are never simple, Beastboy. Just… try to accept it and move on." He looked at his comrade and gave a confident smile. "You still have your friends."

He held the eye contact for another moment, until the moment was interrupted by the sound of another distant explosion. Robin looked down the hall and muttered, "I thought Raven was handling that…"

The Boy Wonder took his leave. The door slid closed, leaving Beastboy to think on what had been said.

T T T

A half an hour later, Beastboy emerged from the room, ready to give life a try. Soon after entering the hallway, he started to smell something burning. Instinctively, his body shrunk down and he collapsed to all fours, taking on the form of a dog. His nose sniffed the air as he trotted forward, and it didn't take long for him to identify the scent.

_Smoke!_

The changeling came running into the kitchen, only to stop short at the doorway. Returning to his human form, he could only stand and watch in awe.

The ceiling was covered in smoke, slowly drifting and spreading above a fit of chaos. Various appliances were on fire, a gigantic flame flaring out from the stove. Two rather large flames danced rapidly about the room as Robin and Raven ran uncontrollably in panicked circles, their capes on brightly ablaze!

Cyborg and Starfire chased them franticly with buckets of water trying to douse the fires. Starfire launched her water, but it missed Raven and soaked the floor right in front of Cyborg, who slipped and slid right out of the room, landing somewhere with a loud crash.

Robin held his flaming cape in his hands, trying to blow the flames out with his own breath, but only succeeded in setting his gloves aflame. Starfire missed Raven again, and Cyborg came running back just in time to slip on the new puddle.

"Wah!" he shouted as he slipped again, taking out Robin with him and dragging the both of them out through another doorway.

Starfire filled a third bucket of water and managed to hold down Raven long enough to douse her with it, successfully extinguishing the flames on her cape. They both let out a sigh of relief and started to work on the flaming appliances.

"Gotcha—WHAT?"

Suddenly, Robin came racing back in, his cape soaked but still aflame!

"Damn it, Robin! Who wears a waterproof cape?" Cyborg was yelling as he ran after him with a fire extinguisher. The two girls sweat-dropped.

Suddenly Raven's cape burst into flames again, and she and Starfire were pulled back into the chaos. Soon, smoke filled the whole room and eliminated all visibility, intensifying the loud crashes, bangs, and yells of the obscured, frenzied team.

Beastboy grinned; he was home, and things were back to normal.

T T T

Somewhere out in the mountains, in one of the darkest, loneliest caves, stood a girl.

She had no family. No friends. No team.

She stood alone—truly abandoned and unwanted.

Her eyes radiated a bright gold as she stood motionless, staring intently as a sharp, glowing rock hovered inches from her heart.

T T T

_Author note: Reviews would be awesome!_


	4. The Great Escape

**IV. The Great Escape**

Terra stood with her body completely relaxed as she levitated a stone dagger towards herself. She'd always felt most at home in caves like this one, so there was no better place for her retreat from this ultimate tragedy. True, caves were lonely places, but she was about to fix that problem for good.

It had to be done; there was no other way. She'd spent her entire life trying to tame her abilities, but it simply couldn't be done. She'd spent her entire life trying to find friends who loved her, but it just wasn't meant to be. All she ever did was hurt them.

There was only one thing she could do right: run away. She'd always run away and left her problems behind. And now she would make her last great escape.

She closed her eyes and she brought the hovering rock slowly closer. It touched her body and pressed in, slicing through her shirt too easily. She could feel its cool point on her skin—a sensation that was immediately replaced with pain as the sharp stone penetrated her skin. She winced but continued to slowly advance the blade as blood began to seep out.

_Good bye, stupid decisions._

The blade moved in a little more, Terra wincing in pain but pressing on.

_Good bye, loneliness._

It sank in deeper, spilling more blood. The pain was unbearable. Why couldn't she just do it hard and fast and get it over with? This was what she'd been waiting for, but it was demanding far more will power than she'd expected.

_Good bye, Beastboy._

She had intended for the dagger to make its last appeal for her heart. But instead, her geomancing abilities flared up and immediately overtook her own control over them. Her eyes opened wide with that characteristic glow, as the dagger was flung away from her and shattered against a nearby wall of rock.

Images flashed before her like a slide show gone out of control.

She saw herself back in that underground mine shaft from months earlier, when Slade had forced her to lose control. She spun violently around the tornado she'd caused, unable to stop it. But Beastboy was there spinning with her, reaching out to her. She reached for him and he grabbed her hand. He pulled them closer and held her in his arms…

Next, she was at the carnival with him. She had never felt so happy; it was the first time anyone had truly been her friend. She could feel his hand in hers as they trotted gleefully around the exhibits…

Then she was standing on a boulder, floating high above the ground outside the Tower. She extended her hand to Beastboy, who was standing at his open window in awe. She'd never seen anyone so happy to see her. She could hear both of their voices like distant echoes. "Do you trust me?" "More than anyone I've ever met"…

Terra couldn't control her thoughts anymore. She had no control over the rapidly playing flashbacks that raced through her mind. The glow in her eyes intensified to consume her completely, causing the entire cave to rumble.

Then, everything suddenly stopped. The stone dagger had slashed her on its way out, and the wound had caught up with her outburst. She collapsed to her knees, fighting the throbbing pain in her chest.

Her peripheral vision turned brown and then dark. The blood-soaked gash on her chest, the exhaustion from her powers, and the strain on her mind all collectively ganged up on the girl, and she realized that she was losing consciousness. She fell onto her side as the pain became distant and her central vision failed.

Apparently, she wouldn't even be allowed to die on her own terms, which left her only one remaining path in life. Running away was no longer an option.

T T T

_Author note: Reviews would be awesome!_


	5. The Shadow

**Chapter Five – The Shadow**

A crash of shattering glass penetrated the silence of the next day's tranquility like a knife, followed by the blaring wail of a jewelry store's security alarm. As a giant figure made its way into the store, the entire room shaking with every thunderous step, the two salesmen on duty could barely muster the courage to run off. The large stone figure walked about the store, passing by the countless shelves of jewelry, as if he were just looking.

Two police cars came screeching to a stop and four men jumped out and assembled behind the vehicles, guns aimed.

"Freeze!"

The giant only rolled his eyes and continued walking about the store.

"I said FREEZE!"

The stone ogre turned and shot the officers an annoyed glare, then turned back and resumed his search. Spotting the safe behind the counter, he brought his arm through the glass case and tore off the door of the safe. Spilling its contents on the floor, he noticed a particularly blue diamond that lay on the floor. About four inches wide and four inches tall, this diamond was different than the other diamonds of its size; not only was it composed of eight identically shaped triangles, but it was also completely opaque. Its surface reflected a bright blue light that was almost blinding to look at. Satisfied, the figure picked up the diamond and turned to leave.

Upon this, the police opened fire on the thief, but the bullets only ricocheted off his stone body.

Angered, the giant ran up to one of the cars, lifted it into the air, and smashed it down on the other car. He lifted the car again, preparing to hurl it at the fleeing officers.

Suddenly, his hand was struck by some sharp, flying object, causing him to pull his arm back and drop the car in front of him. His eyes followed the object that had struck him as it looped around in the air, flew in front of him, and was caught by a certain boy in red and green tights surrounded by four other floating and glowing teens.

"With a face like yours, Cinderblock," he sneered, "who needs jewelry? Titans, go!"

The group advanced, but Cinderblock did not wait to be surrounded; unphased by Starfire's energy blasts, he grabbed her leg, swung her around, and hurled her at unsuspecting Raven. They collided, and both girls were sent crashing through the wall of some building across the street.

Robin hurled a fistful of small explosives at the giant, all of which detonated on him and sent him stumbling backwards.

"Sonic…"

"Boom!"

Before Cinderblock could realize it, an explosive boomerang and a sonic blast were both headed his way. The two merged just in front of him, causing a blinding and deafening explosion that actually had him airborne for a few moments. When the light faded, he landed on the road and skid backwards about thirty feet, leaving a stretched-out crater in his path.

As the dust cleared, only the shape of someone moving could be seen in the distance. Cyborg and Robin were both taken off guard, though, when Cinderblock suddenly emerged from the dust at full speed, his colossal fist swinging towards them!

"OH SHI—" Cyborg shouted, shoving Robin out of the way at the last second before getting slammed by Cinderblock's attack.

"Cyborg!" Robin exclaimed as his friend took the full force of the blow, sent flying backwards and grinding into the street, gradually sinking lower and lower so that he was in a five-foot hole when he finally stopped.

Cinderblock raced after Cyborg, who was too dazed to fight back. Robin threw several boomerangs at him in a panic, but Cinderblock leaped up and they all missed and exploded on nearby buildings.

"Cyborg!" he exclaimed again, racing to the scene but knowing that he wouldn't be able to help. Cinderblock was at the end of his jump and about to land directly on the unready Titan, and there was nothing Robin could do.

Out of nowhere, a green hawk came zooming onto the scene and flew under Cinderblock in a blur. Changing into a pterodactyl at the last moment, he snatched Cyborg by the shoulders and dragged him up and away just as the stone giant came to a thunderous landing.

Beastboy set Cyborg down next to Robin and started to head back towards Cinderblock. He saw Starfire and Raven bombarding him with energy blasts, enchanted objects, and occasional fists, and he saw an opportunity.

Morphing back to his hawk form, he changed direction and flew straight up into the sky. The buildings got smaller and smaller as the clouds got closer and closer, and soon the battle scene was nothing more than a speck on the ground. High enough, Beastboy changed his form slightly into a Peregrine falcon and began a high-speed dive back towards the battle.

As he picked up speed, his peripheral vision faded and all he could see was a blurred image of the fast-approaching city. The wind tore apart forcefully against his beak, and even his falcon eyes were starting to tear as he dived downward at break-neck speed. Soon, he was able to make out the battle scene and identify his target. He'd been aiming at the ground fifty feet ahead of Cinderblock, and he now pulled up to be soaring parallel to the ground towards him.

Cinderblock was just in front of him; he was about to make contact. At the last second, he transformed into a giant turtle, already withdrawn in its impenetrable shell. Unable to see from his "hiding place," Beastboy was jerked about as he felt a sudden impact, but it was less than he'd expected. He hit the ground, skipped like a rock on water, and crashed into a building at the corner.

Dazed, he changed back to his human form and looked back to see that he'd only struck Cinderblock's left arm! Even worse, it only appeared damaged; the giant was still able to use it. _"I missed!"_

Cinderblock was getting frustrated now; he hadn't wanted this fight in the first place; he'd only been following orders. Eager to put an end to both this mission and the Titans, he went on one final rampage intended to end the fight right there.

The Titans had been closing in on him and were now short-range targets. After regaining his balance from an enchanted sewage pipe that struck him in the back, he hurled his fist in a large circle. Two of the Titans managed to dodge it while Raven worked on stopping it. She wasn't quick enough, though, and couldn't stop the attack before Starfire was struck in the face. Bloody and unconscious, the Tamaranian was set airborne and landed with a thud on some rooftop two blocks away.

"Star!" Cyborg shouted, unable to refrain from looking in her direction. Distracted, he was an easy target for Cinderblock as the giant brought his other fist around and hit him in the chest. Like Starfire, Cyborg was sent flying away, crashing into a wall four stories up and making enough of an imprint to remain wedged in. Though conscious, he was too injured to fight.

Cinderblock's rampaging fists suddenly turned pitch black and slowed down considerably. Noticing Raven's straining eyes, Robin and Beastboy saw their chance and jumped up to attack, one taking on the form of a lion and one extending a titanium pole from his belt.

Raven's wounds had damaged her too much, though, and Cinderblock was too strong. He managed to pull his fists out of Raven's lock and brought them forcefully into the air, striking Raven with one and both Beastboy and Robin with the other. Raven ended up with the same fate as Starfire and Cyborg, while Beastboy was simply knocked to the ground about thirty feet away and forced back to his human form.

Robin, however, was knocked unconscious mid-air and landed on the ground just in front of Cinderblock. The giant saw his opponent and brought his fist up, taking aim at his unmoving target. Beastboy, the only Titan still able to move, was too far away to be of any possible help. Slowly, Robin opened his eyes as he regained consciousness, but he had landed badly and was unable to move his legs. He and Beastboy both knew what was coming, and he could only squeeze his eyes shut as Cinderblock swung his massive stone fist downward.

Suddenly, the gigantic fist stopped short. Beastboy's eyes widened, and Robin opened his own eyes and was surprised to see Cinderblock struggling to move, his paralyzed fist glowing yellow. He seemed to be trying to complete the attack, but couldn't move his arm.

Shocked, Robin was motionless. The moment seemed to drag on; he didn't know why he wasn't moving out of the way. Then, he thought he heard the sound of someone breathing heavily. It wasn't him, and he looked toward Beastboy. It wasn't him either, although his pointy ears had picked it up as well. They glanced around, and with everything remaining still, it wasn't long before they saw on the street the shadow of someone standing in the alley. All they could make out were the images of two arms extended forward, moving up and down slightly at the same rate as the breaths they'd heard.

The golden glow spread to consume Cinderblock's entire body, and he appeared to be shaking and trembling as if having some sort of seizure.

Now that he knew what was happening, Robin rolled over and struggled to crawl out of the way. Beastboy ran forward and scooped him up, moving him to safety just as Cinderblock collapsed to the ground with a loud thud. He, too, was unconscious, appearing now as nothing more than a pile a cement blocks.

Satisfied that their opponent was done, the two Titans looked back at the alley but found it was empty.

Beastboy quickly ran over to where they'd seen their rescuer, but there was nobody there. All that remained were the footprints of two small sneakers that had stood just behind the building moments ago. So he stood there alone for several moments, sorting out what had just happened and trying to figure out what to make of it.

He was brought out of his trance by the sound of police sirens approaching from a distance. Knowing that he wouldn't find anything else in the alley, Beastboy walked back over to Robin, who had managed to stand up and was leaning on a wall for support.

They only looked at each other; there was no mystery here. Both knew where they'd seen that awesome golden glow before.

T T T

_Author note: Reviews would be awesome! Again, this chapter and all proceeding ones are not yet revamped. I'll post a notification chapter when I update another batch of chapters (should be pretty soon), so if you want that notification, just add this story to your Story Alerts.  
_


	6. Get A Grip

**VI. Get A Grip**

"Alright, so what happened out there?" Cyborg asked as Raven finished healing the wounds on his human anatomy. The five teens had returned to Titan's Tower and were now assembled in the giant gathering room.

Raven added, "Cinderblock was stronger than usual. How did you beat him with the three of us knocked out?"

"We didn't," Robin replied distantly, focusing instead on wrapping his knee and shin bone.

Everyone looked confused for a moment before Cyborg said, "But we're alive. He didn't just collapse into a pile of rocks on his own, did he?"

"No, he was paralyzed first," Robin answered matter-of-factly, standing up as he evaluated his wrapping work. As he tested his knee mobility, he added, "I don't know what she did, but it looked painful."

"She? Who's 'she'? Who was it?" Cyborg asked immediately, standing up now in suspense. Everyone looked to Robin, but it was Beastboy who told them.

"It was Terra."

T T T

A seemingly weightless boulder glided gracefully over the water and then up into the cool, quiet night sky. Terra watched the moon as her steed brought her higher and higher up until her glowing figure appeared to be just another one of the countless glistening stars.

Bringing her boulder to a smooth stop, she sat down and took in the scene below her. There were no clouds that night, so she had a perfect view of the water below her, the city in front of her, and the mountains behind her.

She used to fly up into the sky like this all the time for the thrill of night-riding and boulder surfing, jumping in and out of the clouds and diving into the water whenever she wanted. At least, she'd enjoyed that before she'd gotten involved with Slade and started keeping secrets from the Titans. After that, she'd felt dirty and only come out here get away from the friends she knew she didn't deserve. The darkness was the only way she could conceal the filth that she'd felt on herself, even if no amount of night swims could ever wash it off.

This was also where she'd brought Beastboy, just after she'd deactivated the Tower's defenses for Slade's robot army. How fitting a place for her to confess, and maybe even switch sides before the attack would begin. But she'd been too afraid of his reaction. Despite her best efforts to speak, no words came out and the two had just stood there in silence. Beastboy had been so excited to be out with her that he'd never suspected hazards behind her silence.

Now she sat alone, trying to make heads or tails of things.

It was true that she'd spent most of her life being alone, but now that she'd known what it was like to be loved, everything had changed. She wondered how they were taking the loss of their teammate.

_Damn it! What was I thinking?_

Everything was her fault. Everything would have been perfect and everyone would be happy. All she'd had to do was…

_Not do what I did._

T T T

"It was _Terra_?" Raven repeated, trying to picture it. "You're sure about this, Beastboy?"

"Duh! Who else could force a guy made of rocks to just collapse on the spot?" Beastboy exclaimed, jumping up as if Raven had made some kind of attack on him.

"I know man, but still," Cyborg reasoned, "You know how she is. The girl probably left town the night that…" He looked away and sufficed with, "Well, you know."

"I agree," Starfire added. "She seems to run away from us when she is challenged."

Raven began, "Maybe there's someone else with telekinesis. I'll see if I can sense anyone—"

"It was Terra," Robin interrupted, seeing that Beastboy was worked up enough even before this conversation. "The footprints, the shadow, the powers; they all match. She was there. And this time, it's because of her that we're still alive."

The conversation was silenced while the Titans processed this development. Things were always simple when they were dealing with the bad guys, but the teens weren't used to the complications of estranged friendships.

"Maybe she is trying to help us now," Starfire suggested, "to show us that she is sorry."

"She probably _is_ sorry, but that doesn't mean we can forgive her," Raven said in her monotone, speaking as much to herself as to Starfire. "She may have saved us today, but she almost had us killed before."

"You're right," Cyborg agreed, after a moment of hesitation. "We're still better off without her." He turned to his green buddy and tried to relate to him. "Look man, I know you had a thing for her, but it wouldn't work. I hate to say it, but she sold you out just like she did us."

Attempting to lighten things up, he add, "Don't worry man, there are plenty of girls that'll love that puppy-dog thing you do! Isn't that right, _Raven?_"

Raven kept her cool and glared back at Cyborg while she deadpanned, "I don't know what you're talking about." But everyone knew that she secretly did have a soft spot for a few of the changeling's soft spots, if only by the fact that she would actually allow him near her for more than a few minutes at a time while he took such forms. Her hood failed to conceal a slight blush, and she looked away while the rest of the group gave a chuckle to lighten the mood.

'Other fish in the sea' wasn't what Beastboy wanted to hear, but nevertheless accepted it and tried to be as mature as possible about this whole thing. After all, his friends were just trying to help.

"Thanks Cy," he said, not wanted to stir up more tension and concern among the others. "Anyway, I real tired. I think I'm gonna crash for the night."

"That's a good idea," Robin said. "It's pretty late, and you never know when someone might try an early-morning robbery. We have to be ready."

Everybody nodded and headed for their rooms, scattering throughout the various hallways. Only four Titans made it to bed, though. In fact, only four Titans even stayed in the Tower.

T T T

_Author note: Reviews would be awesome!_


	7. The Other Side

VII. The Other Side

Beastboy had taken the form of an owl and was now soaring through the calm night sky while taking in the Jump City lights in the distance. Soon, Titans Tower and all of its bias had been left behind.

Why did things like this have to happen? Looking back, everything had been like a dream with Terra; why couldn't life just stay like that? Their date had to have been the happiest few hours he'd ever experienced, even if he hadn't understood why such a pretty and wild-hearted girl was spending her time with him. He still couldn't grasp what her logic was—even more so now that he knew the real purpose of their date.

None of it made sense. Sure, she was a fragile girl with a history of some bad decisions. But she seemed so regretful when the truth had come out. So why had she gone through with it in the first place?

_Ugh! Why did _any_ of this happen?_

And did it happen to _him_? Beastboy was supposed to be the comic relief; the jester of the group. Life wasn't supposed to get this heavy for someone like him. This kind of brutal reality was supposed to be for people like Robin. After all, that guy was defined by his scars and his ability to overcome them. Robin, but not Beastboy.

_So why can't I just forget about her, already?_

As Beastboy soared past the area where he and Terra had stood near the water at the start of their night, the his mind replayed a slide show of images from their date. It was as if focusing of the fun part of the night would undo its devastating conclusion. But even in the earlier points of their escapade on the town, there had been something troublesome in the girl's cerulean eyes. She'd constantly seemed on the verge of telling something. Now, the green owl couldn't help but wonder what might have happened if he'd been more proactive about pursuing the issue. If he'd flushed it out earlier, then maybe they could have turned everything around before Slade ever arrived.

_What do I know about girlfriends anyway? I'm just the team clown…_

Of course, it was ultimately Terra's decision to go through with her actions. But the what-if's were still nagging. To this day, he still didn't know why he'd let her run away the first time. If only he'd followed her and explained that Robin really is _that_ good of a detective, then Slade never would have gotten her. If only.

Beastboy had been flying for an hour now, and the sun would be up in two or three more. Besides, he had almost reached the city, and it would take a little time to fly back to the Tower.

He began to pull up and was about to turn around when he noticed something up in the sky. He would have missed it had he taken on any other form, but the owl's eyes could just barely make out the image of a floating object up ahead.

As he approached it, he realized that it was a small boulder suspended in the air, and he recognized a small girl sitting on it with her arms around her knees. Her face was hidden, but her long blonde hair swaying in the breeze was all too familiar.

There was no thought involved. Beastboy started to fly up to her as if being pulled by a magnet, against his better judgment. He had no idea what he would say, or even do, when he got there.

As neared the boulder, his owl eyes could see every detail of her body. The green bird came to a precise but non-discrete landing, as its fluttering wings made swooshing sounds in the wind.

Terra's head jerked up from her knees and turned to face him with wide blue eyes. Her voice failed her as her vocal cords immediately tensed up in nervousness. What was he doing here?

Beastboy's body expanded as he resumed his wingless, four-limbed human form. But rather than look at her, he sat with his hands on his knees while staring at the water beneath them. He could barely maintain control of his thoughts as it was; he didn't want to find out what would happen if he were to see her intoxicating features again, with his own eyes and in such close proximity. Her smile was an ecstasy that could easily tempt him into relapse.

Terra didn't dare speak, so Beastboy made the first move.

"It was you, right? At the fight today?" he spoke while avoiding eye contact.

"Yeah," was the reply, in her weak but disarmingly familiar voice. "I'm sorry…"

"What, for saving our butts?"

"For showing up at all. I know you guys probably don't want to see my face again, even today." Terra waited but Beastboy didn't respond, so she just twiddled her fingers in front of her. She added quietly, "You won't even look at me right now…"

Beastboy sighed. Maybe some of the 'more mature' Titans could stare into the distance with a straight face in situations like this, but the green teen just didn't have it in him. Knowing that he was in over his head, he nevertheless resigned himself to the consequences and looked up at her.

He could feel the addiction wash over him immediately. Terra's blonde hair swayed slightly in the wind, a few strands occasionally falling over her face as her eyes focused on something in the distance. Out of instinct, she brought her hand up and brushed the hair out of her face, then brought her arm back around her knees. Beastboy's eyes moved up and down her body, small and fragile, but intoxicating nonetheless; her curves were dazzling, complimented by her black t-shirt and khaki shorts. Her legs were smooth and slender, mostly uncovered by her shorts because of the position she was sitting in.

"Hey," he said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. He added with a somewhat light hearted tone, "Sometimes life just sucks."

Terra again looked up in surprise at the peace offering. Their green and blue eyes met and locked for a few seconds, before she looked away again. "Yeah, it does." More time went by, and then she cautiously asked, "Beastboy? Aren't you mad at me?"

"Dude, I don't know what I feel any more. I should be, but I just… I don't _want_ to be."

"Oh…" There was a sadness in her voice, even if it was the best answer she could have realistically hoped for. "And what about the others? I'll bet they hate me."

Beastboy tried to find the right words before replying. "I don't think they don't hate you, Terra. They're just… hurt. I mean, we all thought you were our friend."

And there it was.

"Beastboy, I wanted to be your friend. I meant everything I said that night, I really did! You guys were the _best_ friends." She hesitated before finishing, "But I was so dumb. Beastboy, I'm so sorry…"

This was part where Beastboy was supposed to say yay or nay, but as usual, life wasn't giving him the answer. Someone else could have passed judgment, but he didn't even know where to begin. Especially not now, with Terra sitting right next to him and her scent clouding his thoughts.

Terra added, "I know I totally don't deserve it, but do you… do you think you ever might forgive me?"

Beastboy finally replied, as if still in thought, "I don't know… I mean, probably. I _want_ to. All I know for now is, you saved our butts from Cinderblock today. And I guess I _am_ kinda hoping that you won't disappear again."

He gave her a small smile as another peace offering. Terra readily accepted it and couldn't help but return it with her own smile of relief. Beastboy relaxed a little; this type of situation was much more suited to him than was the earlier drama.

It was then that his communicator sounded off, as both a welcome yet disappointing interruption. The changeling produced the device as it transmitted a fuzzy version of Robin's voice.

"Beastboy, there's been another robbery. It's Overload this time," Robin explained. "Where are you?"

"I'm… uh…" he looked at Terra and imagined himself trying to explain this. "I went out."

"Meet us at Jump City. We're on our way now. Robin out."

Beastboy put away the device and looked at Terra.

"Gotta go," he said. Terra's expression was somewhat saddened, and he caved to the addiction again: "So… same time tomorrow?"

Her face lit up and she replied, "Really? I mean, yeah! I'll totally be here!" Without thinking, she threw her arms around him and nearly crushed him in a rather overjoyed hug. Beastboy knew he should resist, but it had been too long since he'd seen her and instead he simply melted under her touch.

Terra suddenly realized her mistake and pulled away. "Sorry… I shouldn't have…" She trailed off.

"It's okay," Beastboy replied. "You owe me a few of those anyway." _What am I saying? Stop it!_ Why was it so easy to be cool at all the wrong times?

"Yeah, well…" A thought occurred to Terra and she tried immediately to banish it. But her words kept coming out, as if not under her control. "I probably owe you a few of these, too." _Don't do it!_ she told herself. _Don't do it!_

Despite her own judgment, Terra leaned toward Beastboy and brought her face close to his. Beastboy instinctively leaned in, as well. Then both suddenly stopped and remained frozen in place. Each struggled to convince themselves to back away—that this was a bad idea. But their proximity to one another, and the feel of each one's breath on the other's face, pulled them closer anyway. Their lips were just centimeters apart while both teens' resolves weakened more and more by the second. They each felt the radiation of the others' body heat radiating, and saw every detail of the emerald and ocean eyes reflecting back on each other.

Beastboy and Terra fought themselves for just a few more seconds before they finally gave in and embraced. Whatever drug had been at work ten minutes earlier, was now at overdose levels. The name of this drug also now became apparent: _connection_.

After a few reckless seconds, the unintentional couple came apart. Terra was initially regretful, but quickly noticed that Beastboy was more melted than anything else. Despite the tension of the moment, Terra couldn't help but giggle.

"Uh Beastboy? Didn't you have somewhere to go?"

"…Yeah, I guess…" He was evidently still overdose on _connection_.

"Come on, they need you!" she scolded playfully. "Beastboy!" He didn't move, so she nudged him with her hand, causing him to slide off the boulder and into the open sky below. "See ya tomorrow!" she called out after him.

_Damn it!_ Beastboy thought as he fell. How was he supposed to fly after that? Completely unable to focus, there was nothing he could do to stop himself as he came splashing down hard into the water. There was a brief silence before…

"AHHH!" he came up shouting. "BELLY FLOP!" He swam frantically in circles, clutching his bright red chest until it stopped throbbing. The other Titans had likely confronted Overload by now, but the most Beastboy could manage to do was morph into a tiny goldfish and swim quickly toward the city.

T T T

_Author note: Reviews would be awesome!_


	8. Complications

****_Author Note: This chapter has **NOT** been rewritten. All chapters from here on are the originally posted text. If you'd like to keep reading anyway, then be my guest but beware that the style will be different. I **am** still revamping chapters and this one is obviously next on the list. If you'd prefer to only read the rewrites, then just add this story to your Story Alerts and I'll post a notification chapter (thereby sending you an email notification) when I post the next batch of chapters._

_Thanks!_

__T T T

**Chapter Eight – Complications**

A small green cheetah raced down 2nd Street towards a particularly bright building up ahead, with windows flashing and occasional lightning bolts emitting from the walls. Loud crashes and shockwaves could be heard from inside, as well as a few yelps and shouts. Why couldn't they ever get a break?

Beastboy was approaching the entrance of the building and was about to leap through the window when Cyborg suddenly came crashing through the wall and slammed into him. Both hit the ground and tumbled backward before coming to a stop and taking a minute to reorient themselves.

"Where were you?" Cyborg demanded, struggling to pick himself up.

"Relax dude," Beastboy replied. "I'm here, I'm here."

Not really angry, Cyborg countered, "Well, you could have been here before that little shock of mine."

"Heh heh, sorry," Beastboy said, his hand on his head.

Their attention was jerked back to the battle when the windows flashed brighter than before and one of the girls could be heard yelping. They heard glass shatter and saw Raven come flying out the side of the building, her body burnt and smoking.

"Raven!" Beastboy called out, transforming into some large bird and racing towards her. He was moving quickly, but not quickly enough. He wouldn't be able to catch her, so he sped forward at full speed just in time for her to come crashing down on him. Again, Beastboy was sent tumbling backward, rolling to a stop at the edge of the rooftop.

He had no time for jokes, though. Overload could be seen flying out of the building, apparently trying to make a getaway. He was narrowly dodging a barrage of green energy blasts when his foot was caught by the grip of a grappling gun. A moment later, Robin and Starfire could be seen swinging and flying after him. Beastboy glanced at Raven to make sure she was okay. She had managed to sit up, so Beastboy changed into his falcon form and took off after Overload.

Robin hurled handful after handful of explosives at Overload as he swung over the city from the villain's foot. Most were missing their target, however, and the few that made contact were not enough to make a difference.

When one of Starfire's blasts hit him square in the back, though, it was enough to knock him off balance for a moment. Having caught up to the action, Beastboy took this chance to swing his talons at where he expected Overload's eyes to be. He was surprised to find nothing there, and Overload sent several electric shockwaves through Beastboy's body, forcing him back to his human form and effectively knocking him out and sending him plummeting towards the ground.

"Beastboy!" Starfire shouted, leaving her opponent and racing to catch her fallen comrade. It appeared as if she catch him with time to spare, but the moment she made contact with his body, the electricity was transferred to her body and both Titans came down crashing through a rooftop.

Growing annoyed with his passenger, Overload looked back just in time to dodge an explosive boomerang.

"Get off of me!" he shouted, sending a surge of electricity down the wire from which Robin was hanging. Knowing what was coming, he let go of the wire before the attack reached him, allowing himself to fall back down to the ground.

As he neared the ground, a dark trampoline enveloped in a black aura appeared below him. After springing up and down a few times upon landing, he jumped down and turned to watch Overload disappear into the distance.

They were not on a winning streak.

T T T

Back at Titan's Tower the next morning, Raven was growing weary of healing people what seemed to be every day now. It was as if their last two opponents had been much stronger than usual, though she didn't know how.

"That's two slip-ups!" Robin exclaimed like some sports coach. "We can't let this keep happening!"

"Well maybe if some of us would show up on time…" Cyborg hinted.

"Hey!"

"Where were you, anyway?" Robin asked, now interested.

Everybody looked at Beastboy, who stuttered before replying, "I was… I went out, okay? It's not like I knew that Overload was gonna rob a jewelry store!"

Nobody was satisfied with that answer, but Robin moved on. "Actually, that brings me to my next point." He booted up the computer screen and continued, "Our last two opponents were both much stronger than we've known them to be. Another connection is that they both robbed jewelry stores, but each only took one item. Specifically, these."

The computer screen showed an image of the blue diamond that Cinderblock had taken and an image of an identical red one.

"But what would such creatures want with these items?" Starfire asked, fairly sure that even on Earth, stone giants and electrical entities could not simply walk into a store and buy something.

"You think there's someone else pulling the strings," Cyborg said to Robin.

The same thought struck everyone at once, but Raven was the one to say it.

"Slade."

"It's a hunch," Robin agreed. "I can't confirm it, but I don't know of anyone else that could be behind this. Especially since the diamond Cinderblock took was never recovered when the police got to him."

"And this sounds just like him," Beastboy added. He was careful how he worded his next sentence, "Tricking other people into doing his work for him."

The Titans knew he'd been trying to defend Terra, but they didn't argue this time.

Cyborg moved things along. "So what's so special about these things? I mean, they coulda taken the whole store if the plan was to sell them."

"I don't know," their detective admitted. "They don't have any historical significance, though it may mean something that their molecular structures are the exact inverses of each other."

"So they're opposites?" Beastboy tried to understand.

"Structurally, yes." The screen turned off as he continued, "I don't know what significance that has; it may have something to do with energy transfer. I'll have to do more research.

"Until then," he concluded. "We'll have to keep our eyes peeled for anything big. Whoever's behind this has both diamonds now, so anything could happen at this point."

T T T

The day had come and gone as expected, with Cyborg and Beastboy playing video games and Robin with his face buried in books and computer screens. Now the night had come, and Beastboy had slipped out of the Tower. He'd told the Titans that he'd probably be gone all night, although they were suspicious and upset that he would miss the Glorbod Remlikod.

Again in the form of an owl, he flew eagerly over to the place where he and Terra had been the night before. He was a little disappointed to find no floating rocks, but it was true that they hadn't specified a time to meet. He decided to hover there and wait patiently, sure that she'd arrive any minute.

After two hours of flying in circles, however, he was starting to get nervous. Where was she? She wouldn't blow him off, would she? Had she decided not to come?

His wings were getting tired and he had accepted that she wasn't going to show up there, so he decided to look for her and flew over towards the mountains. He took on the form of a wolf as soon as he landed and started sniffing around. It wasn't long before he'd picked up a faint trace of her scent.

Following it, it got stronger and stronger as he trotted past caves and around mountains. Up ahead, he could see a cave that the trail appeared to lead to and he ran up to it. Her scent was at its strongest in front of the cave, but there was another scent as well. Someone else had been there, though he couldn't identify who.

Dismissing it for the moment, he made his way into the dark cave. He couldn't see, but he could tell this was where she'd been living; her scent filled the chamber like a thick fog. Still, he couldn't smell anybody there at the moment.

"Terra?" he called out, changing back to normal. "Terra?" There was no response.

He stood on a rock and morphed into an owl, intending to use its superior night-vision. He got a clear view of the cave by doing so, but another thing was also made clear. Terra wasn't there; she was gone.

T T T

_Author note: Again, this and all subsequent chapters have **NOT** been rewritten, but they will be soon. Nevertheless, reviews would be awesome!_


	9. Split

_Sorry but today's is another short chapter. In my defense, I think that if we applied my No-Bullshit style to other long works, we'd end up with chapters about the same length as mine. It's quality not quantity, like I always say. And this one's definitely got the quality._

_This should also be a good chapter to leave you all on for now, since I'm gonna be on vacation for the next week. I leave on Sunday, but I don't think I'll be able to write another chapter tomorrow. Hey, if it's possible then I'll do it. I just doubt that it's possible._

_I'm flattered by all of your comments, especially Mokusei4 and Toxility (didn't expect to bring on tears of happiness, but hey; "no-bullshit" prevails!)_

The Art and Dance of ReconciliationChapter Nine – Split

The elevator door opened too slowly for Beastboy as he squeezed through the doorway as soon the moment he could fit through it. He ran down the hall, turning left here and right there, rapidly making his way across the Tower.

It was late, and he knew that the Titans were usually asleep long before now. But he also knew that on a night like tonight—with Slade active again—one Titan would always be up.

He came to a stop in front of a closed door at the end of the long hallway. He scrambled to punch in the security code, but found the door was locked so he pounded on the door with his fists until it slid open.

Robin stood at the doorway, looking annoyed as if Beastboy had been pounding on his head. "Yes…" he muttered.

"Robin, she's gone!" Beastboy exclaimed, running past him into the study and frantically looking over the many computers.

"Who's gone?" Robin demanded, expected Starfire or Raven.

"Terra!"

Robin was confused, though when Beastboy had been gone for two nights he'd suspect she might have been involved. This would not help Beastboy recover from her betrayal…

"What do you mean?" he asked, having already put two and two together but trying to extract more information.

Beastboy looked too anxious to explain, but he knew he'd have to. "That's where I was last night," he began. "I went out flying so I could be alone, but then I found her doing the same thing. We got to talking and we made up, and when you called we agreed to meet again tonight. I waited and waited, and when she didn't show up I sniffed out her cave. She wasn't there, Robin! Something's happened to her!"

"Wait, I thought you were angry at her," Robin tried to understand.

"I was, but… I…" Beastboy stuttered. "Look dude, she's sorry. She feels terrible; it's killing her. I know that may not be enough for you or the others, but it's enough for me."

Robin was silent, surprised by Beastboy's defensive outburst. He didn't know what his own opinion of Terra was at the moment; he wasn't sure if he was mad at her or not. However, he did know that her emotions were unstable and that she was easily scared off. Even if Beastboy had been good to her last night, it was very possible—even probable—that she was overwhelmed and ran away again.

He didn't quite know how to say this to Beastboy, but his thoughts were interrupted.

"Come on, man!" Beastboy pulled him to a computer. "She could be hurt, we gotta track her!"

"Beastboy, I can't track anyone I want to," Robin explained. "Unless you put a tracking device on her."

Of course, he hadn't. Neither spoke for a minute, Beastboy trying to calm himself down and Robin trying to figure out how to tell his friend what had happened.

"I don't know how to tell you this, Beastboy," he said uneasily, "but I don't think anything happened to her."

"What do you mean? Then where is she?"

Robin really didn't want to be the one to say this. "You know how Terra is; it's easy for her to get scared away." It pained him to see Beastboy wasn't catching on, so he came out and said it, "I think she ran away."

"No!" Beastboy instantly rejected the idea. "We were happy! She had no reason to leave; she knew I was there for her."

"Remember what happened the first time she ran away?" Robin reasoned. "You'd been there for her then, too." Beastboy didn't know what to say. It made sense, but he didn't want it to. "She doesn't know what she wants," Robin continued. "She gets confused and scared, and she doesn't know how to handle it."

There was another silence as Beastboy began to comprehend what had happened.

"I'm sorry," Robin offered, though he knew it wouldn't be much help.

Without a word, Beastboy turned and walked over towards the door. Leaving Robin behind in the study, he slowly limped back to his room, his head hanging low.

Closing his door behind him, he slumped onto his bed and buried his face in his hands. He thought she'd been happy with him; that they'd gotten over the past. It hurt him to know that he'd scared her again. He wanted so badly to help her and love her, but it seemed that all he ever did was make things worse.

He couldn't tell where he'd gone wrong. She'd been smiling and laughing even as she'd left; what could have happened? He'd gotten his hopes up this time. They'd cried, laughed, even flirted; he'd thought for sure this would be it. They'd even been about to kiss! He wanted that kiss so badly, but it had been stolen from them twice. And now that she'd run away, they would never finish what they'd started.

This time, Beastboy had no way of finding her. Her scent at the cave was strong but not new, and it disappeared completely once she got high enough in the air. She could have been anywhere in the world by now, and with no intention of ever coming back.

What hurt him the most, however, was that there was nothing he could do to help her even if he did manage to find her. He wanted more than anything to be with her, but it seemed as if she were running away from him. His efforts seemed to repel her rather than help her, at least for any length of time. It was as if she were shooing him away whenever he got close to her.

He wanted to go look for her—to try to find her and make her happy. But he knew now that she would only run away from him again. It almost seemed like she didn't want to be with him. He didn't what he'd do if that were the case, but he wasn't so sure it wasn't. He wanted to find her and be with her, but he didn't want to hurt her more by doing so. The only logical solution was to give up and let her be, and as much as that hurt him, it was his only option. He had no choice; seeing her again would only hurt her more and that was something he refused to do, even if he hurt himself in doing so.

Terra awoke on a hard floor, unsure of where she was. The room was pitch black and she couldn't tell if her eyes were open or not. As she gradually became aware of her senses her attention was diverted to a painful throbbing on the back of her head.

She tried to examine the injury but found that her wrists were chained to the floor. She got up onto her knees and fought against the restraints with what little strength she could gather, but it was useless. Already exhausted, she collapsed back to the floor and struggled to remain awake.

With the last of her strength, she tried to summon any dirt or dust that may have been in the room. There was none, and the last of her energy was wasted.

Her eyes closed softly, and as she slowly slipped into unconsciousness, she could hear a faint voice echoing through her head.

"_He doesn't love you…"_

_How was it? I wanted to end off on that voice, but I'm not sure how fluent that turned out. I'm sure we all know who's voice that was, but that just makes it more suspenseful, right?_

_robin's_my_boy, how did I do with Robin? His character isn't that hard to capture, but a lot of times people portray him as the Titans' boss. He's a leader figure, but not the Head Titan, right?_

_Toxility, welcome to the wonderful world of fanfics. I look forward to reading your stories as soon as you post them._

_Brogamn, your 7th chapter was most inspiring, so thanks for that. You've probably already read my gigantic review that should probably count as two. Oh, and I noticed something minor about our fic: On the list of chapters, what happened to Part 6? lol._

_Everybody go read Brogramn's story, Robin's Final Trial. I don't know why it's called Robin's trial because the whole thing has so far built up to the recently-posted BB/Terra scene. Chapter 7's amazing, but the rest of the story is awesome too. Go read it. I'd put a link, but they don't work on this site._


	10. Slipping

_Guess what? I updated! Ha HA! I updated!_

_I'm still on vacation in Virginia, but I managed to get a hold of my father's friend's laptop, so I've been typing away for several hours, both yesterday and today. And since I haven't updated in a while (well, at least by my standards) I have for all of you my longest chapter yet! Still not really long, but significantly longer than my other chapters._

_I want to thank you all for waiting patiently and pretending that you had a choice in the matter, except for the one reader who followed me up to Virginia and sat breathed down my neck while I typed. j/k. Any of you ever seen the movie "Misery"? Picture that. lol._

_I see you're back, CloudPaladin, and thanks for your compliments. I didn't realize my style had changed, though I have been thinking about my story A LOT more often. And concerning the number of chapters, I have no idea. Not fifty, but I don't know beyond that._

_Well, no more stalling. I couldn't stand not writing for four whole days, so this is what I came up with. Enjoy._

_Disclaimer: [I own nothing, which is good cuz there's a lot of it.]_

The Art and Dance of ReconciliationChapter Ten – Slipping

It had been even harder than Beastboy had thought it would be, but he could do it. He had to do it, no matter how difficult it was or how much it hurt him. He hated it, but he knew that he didn't have a choice. He would have to forget Terra.

At first, it had been hard for him to believe it was even possible. She'd been on his mind all day and in his dreams all night, and it seemed he would never be able to move on. _"It's for her,"_ he would tell himself. _"The farther away from her I am, the better off she'll be."_ This was all that kept him from flying off and trying to find her, though it didn't help much beyond that. Nothing had been able to distract him completely. Well, except for one thing…

"Almost… almost… Ha! Gotcha!"

"Oh no you don't!" The sound of buttons being rapidly jammed filled the room, followed by, "BOOYAH!"

"Oh yeah? 'Booyah' this…"

Beastboy and Cyborg toggled the joysticks and mashed the buttons like there was no tomorrow, both of their bodies bent completely over their controllers, their eyes fixed steadily on the two cars racing on the television screen.

The two cars were almost even, with the blue car slightly ahead. Each was trying to run the other off the road until the finish line came into view. Beastboy punched in a series of commands and the green car in second place began to shoot out a large flame.

A large grin covered Beastboy's face as his car sped up and took the lead. The finish line was approaching fast, but suddenly Cyborg punched in a command and a big blue boxing glove shot out of his car and knocked the green one straight off the track! With no competition, the blue car easily coasted over the finish line and "WINNER P1" flashed on the screen.

"Like I said," he gloated, "BOOYAH!" It was now his turn to wear a large grin while Beastboy's jaw hung open, in shock at his defeat. He remained motionless while Cyborg danced around him in circles, chanting, "Who da man! Who da man!"

He stopped short, though, when Robin entered the room and picked up the controller before turning to him and asking, "You playing?" Cyborg proudly sat down and took the other controller, but the race was over within twenty seconds when it was his blue car that was sent flying off the track. "Booyah," Robin imitated, more saying it than exclaiming it.

"What?" Cyborg gawked. "How did you…"

"Excuse me," Starfire asked. "May I try the racing of the colored boxes?"

"Cars, Star," he corrected. "They're cars. Yeah sure, here's your controller. This button is to go and this thing is used to steer." He figured he could use a confidence-booster, but when the race started his car went out of control! It only took Starfire several seconds to force Cyborg's car off the track like Robin had, advancing his losing record even further.

"I am victorious!" she exclaimed happily, jumping up in the air. Cyborg was dumbfounded as she flew about the tower, shouting, "Boo-YAH! Boo-YAH!"

Now alone in the room, Cyborg knelt on the floor and held the Gamecube console in his hand, suspecting something to be wrong with it. After a few seconds, a tiny green gnat crawled out from one of the cracks in the system and buzzed annoyingly about the room.

"Alright man, you asked for it," Cyborg said, reaching over to the table and picking up a giant flyswatter. The gnat stopped short in the air and immediately grew into a small green human laughing hysterically on the floor.

"You should have… seen… your face!" Beastboy exclaimed between laughs, his arms clutching his chest as he rolled on his back. His face changed to look like a green version of Cyborg's, sweating and huffing with a small light bulb flashing on the top of his head. His face changed back and the two laughed for a minute before they were interrupted.

"Hey Cyborg," Robin called from another room. "Can you give me a hand with this?"

Though he didn't know what 'this' was, he figured from Robin's serious expression that it must have been something concerning the Slade investigation. "No problem," he called back. "Be right there." With that, he got up, dusted himself off, and walked out of the room.

Now alone, Beastboy was able to survive the silence for about six seconds before his mind caught up to him and he was flooded with memories of Terra again.

"_Why can't you just forget about her?"_ he scolded himself. His memories wouldn't give up; it just didn't feel right without her. He got up and made his way over to the couch, then stood over it. _"She's gone—never coming back."_

He plopped onto the couch and lay face-down, motionless.

"_Forget her."_

Terra awoke in the same room she'd been in earlier, now dimly lit, though there didn't appear to be any lightbulbs. She found that her wrists were still chained to the floor. She noticed now that her ankles were also chained together, but her attention was soon directed to the man standing before her.

She looked up at him and, as her eyes focused, was able to identify him as the one man she didn't want to see: Slade.

"Well," he began, his arms folded as he looked down at her nervous face. "I suppose you're wondering what you're doing here." She looked up at him helplessly, knowing that he could strike her at any time. Feeding off her fear, he smirked behind his mask before continuing, "I've decided to give you one last chance to repay me; to resume your role as my apprentice."

Terra was silent at first, for fear of what would happen if she declined his offer. She hadn't thought her life could get any worse. Then she remembered what had ruined her life in the first place; it had been Slade. He'd sought her out and pulled her in the day she'd left the Titans, and that had been the day she was turned against her friends. That had been the start of her mental war with herself, the moment that the one thing she'd wanted in life had become unattainable.

Control. It was the one thing she'd always worked so hard to achieve, only to end up farther away from it than when she'd started. Control over her life. Her unstable powers had made it impossible, flaring up whenever she thought things were getting better. She'd tried everything to tame her powers and take control. She'd lived alone, miles away from any other living soul. She'd accepted help from the Titans, training amongst other 'mutants' like her. She'd taken up Slade's offer, even if he was the Titans' enemy.

The truth of it was that Slade had helped the most. Only Slade had given her any significant control over her powers; the Titans had only comforted and supported her. Slade had given her strength and stability; her powers hadn't lashed out once during her time with him.

But it had come with a price. The whole reason Terra had wanted control over her powers was so that she could have control over her life. Slade had given her the opposite by making her his apprentice. He had forced her to betray her friends—her friends that had trusted her and cared for her. He had made her give up everything else in her life and obey his every command; he had given her power but had taken control.

Beastboy had freed her from Slade's grip and her life was starting to take shape again, but now she'd been dragged back—back into the blind abyss. She wouldn't go back; she could never go back to that hell, spinning around uncontrollably and growing to be more and more like Slade.

"You're out of your mind," she spat back, surprised at her nerve.

Slade stepped forward, causing Terra's strength to fade and be replaced by the fear she'd shown earlier. "Am I?" he mused. "What do you have to gain from them?"

"Let me go," she attempted to ignore his question, drowning out his voice by struggling against her restraints.

"We're a lot alike, Terra," he continued, unphased. "So I know how you think. What do you have to gain from them?"

"We're nothing alike!" she exclaimed, angered by the notion. Out of instinct, she jumped up at him, only to be jerked back to the ground.

Before she could react, Slade's arm swung fast and backhanded her across the face, sending her airborne for a moment before the chains yanked her back down. "Answer my question!" he shouted.

Terra slowly recovered as she got back on her knees, her hands unable to tend to the trickle of blood on her face or the tears slipping from her eyes. She was silent, paralyzed by her fear and shock.

Regaining his patience, Slade folded his arms again and paced about the room. "They won't take you, you know," he began. "Not after what you've done to them. Surely you must know they hate you now."

His words upset her, but she'd already accepted this on her own. Unable to stop herself, she countered with the same argument she'd given herself. "Not Beast—"

"Beastboy?" he interrupted with a laugh. "He hates you as much as the other Titans. You saw the way he fought for you; it was pity, not love."

"But he told me he loved—"

"He lied." Slade turned to face her and continued, "If he cares so much, then where is he? Certainly not looking for you; my security shows that nobody has even tried to approach our location." Terra knew it was possible that he just didn't know where she was, but Slade quickly pressed on, "He didn't look for you the last time you 'disappeared' either. Do you remember what happened; do you remember why you ran away?"

Her secret had slipped and the Titans had found out about her inability to control herself. Beastboy had been the first person she'd ever trusted with that secret and she'd trusted him wholeheartedly, but within hours everybody knew and she'd been humiliated right out of the Tower.

"He betrayed you," Slade answered for her. "He lied then, and he lied now."

Terra fought hard to resist his logic, but it made sense. Still, she knew he had to be wrong. This was how he'd roped her in the last time—by twisting the truth and making her feel helpless and alone. But she remembered what had happened the last time she'd accepted his help and knew that nothing was worth losing her life like that again.

"I'll never go back," she stated firmly. "You're wrong. You were wrong then, and you're wrong now."

Neither spoke for a minute, instead staring each other down.

Slade broke the silence when he turned his back to her and said, "I see."

He walked out of the room, leaving Terra alone in confusion. What was going to happen to her now? She was sure he wasn't going to set her free after that, so how was she supposed to escape?

She didn't have much time alone with her thoughts, however, as Slade soon re-entered the room He held two identical helmets, one with a blue diamond in the center and one with a red diamond. He placed one helmet on the floor and approached her with the other. She instinctively tried to back away, but the chains held her in place once again.

"I was hoping this would be done willingly," Slade commented as he held her chin in one hand and the helmet in the other. His touch sent a chill of ice down her spine, followed by an immense fear as he fit the helmet on her head and fastened it in place. He continued, "It would have been much quicker."

Once the helmet was secured, he walked over to where he had left the other helmet—the one with the blue diamond. "But you've chosen the hard way," he said as he stepped into the shadows and then removed his mask. It was too dark to see his face, but she could make out the image of him putting on the other helmet. "And the painful way," he added with a smirk.

Her face went pale for a second at this remark, but she tried to hide her fear, knowing that he delighted in it.

"Brace yourself," he said, knowing there was nothing she could do.

He lifted his arm and pressed a combination of buttons on his wrist, and the diamond on his helmet began to emit a faint blue light. She could tell that the diamond above her was illuminated in the same way, but what scared her most was when her eyes started glowing a bright gold, as if she were lifting a heavy boulder. She felt as if she were using her powers, but there was no earth in the room, nor could she detect any within range.

The feeling grew stronger, and she soon felt that her powers were maxed out. Had she been trying to lift something, she would have given up at this point. But her powers kept going, clearly out of her control. Both diamonds now glowed the same bright gold as her eyes, and she could feel her energy being drained. Already panting heavily, she didn't know how much longer she could hold out; she'd never pushed herself to this extreme.

"Now it gets interesting," Slade announced, entering another series of commands on his wrist computer.

The diamonds began to glow brighter and brighter, now radiating with pure white light. Suddenly, Terra could feel her powers being worked even harder, more than she knew was possible. She cried out in pain as she could feel her life energy being depleted, and she soon dropped to the floor. But it didn't help; Slade enjoyed the thrill of watching her squirm frantically on the ground in pain. She curled up into the fetal position, tears soaking her face, with too little energy to even muster a scream.

A warning light started flashing next to the buttons on Slade's wrist, and he saw from her slow, drawn-out breaths that she didn't even have enough energy to breathe. He was to terminate the process immediately if she were to live.

With a smirk, he instead let the device drain one last surge of energy, then watched with satisfaction as Terra stopped twitching and lay limp on the floor. _"So our first session is a success,"_ he thought. _"If she's lucky, then she's dead."_

_How was that? You know the drill, reviews, criticisms, flames, whatever-the-opposite-of-flames-are, and anything else._

_This chapter went from one extreme to the other during the scene change, so tell me how each of those was._


	11. Hesitation

_I just saw the new Titans episode, "Deception." Nice idea with the whole Cyborg/Stone thing and the Cyborg dummy was hilarious. But Terra's gone! WAH! (anime tear streaks flow down my face) WAH!_

_You know, in a way "Aftershock Part 2" has a happy ending. I mean, throughout the series, Terra was getting bounced all over the place. She had made friends, lost friends, betrayed friends, been manipulated over and over… She'd been controlled, she'd been betrayed, she'd been through endless torment… And she had no control over any of it. All she'd ever wanted was control over her life and to have friends. It made her miserable that she'd betrayed her friends (as could be seen in the flashbacks in Aftershock Part 2), and then she'd lost all control when Slade used that stupid nerve-suit. At least when she died, she did it her way. Although it's ironic that her powers killed her, acknowledge that she controlled her own death. When she died, she saved the Titans and the city, and righted all the wrongs in her life. She overcame Slade and overcame her powers, and took control of her life so that she could die the way she wanted to. And the plaque was a nice touch, showing that her efforts had been accepted and that when she died, she had achieved what she wanted. She was no longer a traitor who betrayed and hurt everyone she loved; as she died, she was a Teen Titan. As she died, she was a true friend. (Wipes tears from eyes)_

_I would have liked to post that last week when they showed the episode, but this'll have to do._

**The Art and Dance of Reconciliation**

Chapter Eleven - Hesitation

Sweat covered Terra's body as she dangled in the air, her weakening grip on the ledge being the only thing stopping her from plummeting into the whirlwind of fire blazing below her.

She had one free hand, but whenever she would reach up with it, the inferno would get stronger and pull harder. Try as she would, she could not use her special abilities either; the cliff seemed to be unaffected by her powers. She was helpless, her sweaty hand gradually slipping.

Suddenly she heard voices. Somehow she was able to see them—the Titans—gathered in front of her. But they weren't gathered around her, but rather standing in a circle no more than a few feet in front of her, Beastboy being the closest with his back to her. They were talking amongst themselves, involved in some pleasant conversation during which they would occasionally start laughing for a few moments.

She called out to them yet received no response.

One of her fingers slipped off its hold, and she cried out again, desperately begging for help as the unbearable heat drew closer. They still didn't hear her, and continued on with their conversation.

Another finger slipped, and she knew she didn't have much longer. Beastboy was close, and she wanted to grab onto his leg. He would notice her then. He would support her and pull her up, away from the hungry flames; he would save her.

Terra reached up with her other arm, and the heat grew stronger, trying to drag her down. Another finger lost its hold and she had lost almost all her grip, but she continued to reach out. Beastboy would save her, if she could only reach a little further… A fourth finger slipped, and she was now dangling by one finger. She was tempted to use her free hand to grab onto the ledge and regain her grip, but Beastboy was so close.

She called out to him, but he was again deaf to her cries. He would save her. He would spin around and grab her hand. He would lift her up effortlessly, and he would never put her down—never let her out of his grip. She was less than an inch away, and getting closer… she could feel the hair of his leg on her fingers! She was going to do it!

Suddenly, the flames got hungrier and her last finger was yanked off the cliff from below. Her hand—so close to Beastboy—was jerked away without him ever noticing as she dropped down towards the fames. Beastboy and the other Titans grew farther and farther away as she fell, staring back up with her hand still reaching towards them.

She entered the flames and she could instantly feel her skin being burned away. Beastboy was no longer in sight; the only other presence was Slade's maniacal, manipulative laugh before the flames grew to their hottest. Her mind was burning even faster than her body, with a searing pain as the ravenous fire attacked even her memories and left their charred ashes.

With no one to help her, the fire made one final assault in a surge of blistering heat, and Terra let out a blood-curdling scream of pain and agony as the last of her body and mind were consumed in the flames…

"AHHH!"

Beastboy screamed as he woke up in a cold sweat, taking a minute to realize where he was. His eyes wandered about his room in darkness as he slowly calmed down.

"_It was just a dream,"_ he tried to convince himself. _"A nightmare."_

Already in the upright position, he pulled off his sweaty t-shirt and then sat there, trying to understand what had just happened. He'd thought his other dreams had been haunting, but they'd only simulated her presence. They'd never done anything like this before.

Knowing from his breaths and heart rate that he was too worked up to sleep, yet too tired to effectively sort this out, he decided he would head over to the kitchen and make a few tofu-waffles. As he groggily made his way through the corridors, however, he noticed some faint sounds at the end of the hallway, as if someone else were up as well.

Now more alert, he tiptoed to the room where he'd spoken with Robin earlier. The door was slightly ajar, and he could see the shadow of somebody moving around. Silently, he leaned against the wall and peered in, expecting a spy of some sort.

To both his relief and surprise, he found the figure to be none other than Robin, pacing about the room in serious thought and occasionally typing on the giant computer. Robin was startled when Beastboy opened the door the rest of the way, and then they both looked confused at each other's presence.

"How did you know?" Robin asked, surprised that Beastboy could have detected the same thing his computer had picked up.

"Know what?" Beastboy replied. "What are you doing? It's three o'clock in the morning!"

"Wait, so you aren't here because of the fluctuations?"

"Fluctuations… what? Dude, I had a bad dream and when I woke up I heard you over here," Beastboy explained. He could see that Robin was working hard and he didn't want to bother him with the details of his dream. "Now what are you doing up?"

Robin brought Beastboy to the computer screen and started typing while he replied, "Well, I usually call it a night around one or one-thirty, but just as I was finishing up tonight, the computer reported drastic energy fluctuations." Beastboy was confused, so he continued, "The energy concentration matches the structure of those diamonds perfectly."

"So you're saying Slade started using those two diamond things that he stole," Beastboy began to catch on. "Man, why does this guy always work in the middle of the night?"

There was a silence for a minute as Robin stared at the screen, his expression once again one of serious thought. He turned and took a few steps away from the computer, as if he were about to start pacing like he'd been when Beastboy found him. He stopped though, and said, "The problem is, I've never seen this kind of energy before. It's not like electricity or heat; it's completely different. The computer was able to pick it up because the molecular structures of the diamonds were on file, but I don't know what could harness this kind of energy. Hell, I don't even know what could create this kind of energy."

Beastboy had never encountered a situation in which Robin didn't have all the answers. Usually, even when he says 'I don't know,' he says it with a certainty that says there's no answer to be known. Beastboy then realized that the detective Titan probably did this sort of thing for every investigation, and he felt a little sheepish for going to sleep every night when Robin was up at work.

"So what does this mean?" he asked.

"It means Slade's planning something big, and we have to find out what before it's too late." He punched his fist into his palm in front of him and fought off the urge to shout 'Titans, go!'.

Beastboy noticed that he looked more worried then usually, probably because he had less information now than he'd had with any other investigation.

"Well," Beastboy said with an upbeat attitude, "we know that whatever he's doing has to do with those diamonds. All we gotta do is find out where he is and then take back the diamonds."

"It's not that easy, Beastboy," Robin explained. He walked back to the computer and pointed to a blinking red dot on a map, continuing, "We already know that he's right there; the computer was able to trace the energy trails to pinpoint the location. But if we try to ambush him, we'd have no idea what to expect."

"So? It's always like that."

"That's true," Robin admitted. "But this is different. Like I said, I have no idea what could possibly harness this energy. He could be using it to power something we've never seen before—maybe several things. Whatever he's using the energy for, it's not just to make more robots. We need to find out more" He turned away and said both to Beastboy and to himself, "Slade's still mad about losing Terra, so I know there's nothing he wants more right now than revenge."

Terra woke up with a jolt, frantically looking to defend herself from Slade. She exhaled a sigh of relief to find she was alone, although the room was pitch black and her wrists and ankles were still chained.

Despite her sudden awakening, Terra still felt weak from whatever Slade had done to her. Even the memory made her nervous; she hadn't known that dying would be so painful and drawn out. She'd felt her slowly shutting down, and before long she hadn't been able to move regardless of the restraints. She'd been suffocating, her lungs unable to take in any air, and the device kept draining and draining until eventually it all went black.

To her surprise she'd survived, and now that she was alone she had some time to think. Of course, the first thoughts she turned to were those of what Slade had said. He must have been lying; Beastboy would never abandon her, especially not after the other night.

Or would he? Slade had pointed out that he hadn't come looking for her when she first ran away, before she had joined Slade. But then again, she'd yelled at him; he was probably too upset and embarrassed to search for her.

Slade had said Beastboy would betray her, and sure enough, everybody knew her secret by the end of the night. But Beastboy had sworn that he hadn't told, and his face had looked so hurt and sad. The more she thought about it, the more sense it made that maybe he hadn't told anyone her secret. After all, it was Slade who said he would and she knew now how Slade worked.

Yet Slade had been right about one thing: Where was Beastboy now? She couldn't think of anything she'd done that night that could have offended him. Their relationship had improved so much that night; she'd thought he would come looking for her the moment she didn't come back.

Slade said that nobody had come near their location, wherever that was. She wanted to believe that he was lying, but if Beastboy were really looking for her then he would have stumbled across this place by now. Surely one of his animal forms was capable of following her scent and finding her here.

Maybe the other Titans got to him. Terra wasn't sure what they thought of her now; they must have been mad for what she had done to them, but she didn't know how the rescue incident had gone over with them. Robin would have been killed if she hadn't helped, so they couldn't be too much angrier. Still, they may have persuaded Beastboy not to look for her. What if he hated her as much as they did now?

No, he couldn't be swayed by anything. He said he'd always be there for her. He had to; he was she only hope, and she wanted so badly to put her faith in him. But there was that nagging doubt that kept pointing out reasons why he wouldn't come for her. What if he didn't? She certainly wasn't capable of saving herself, and she knew from experience that Slade wasn't through with her.

A wave of fear came over her at the thought of having to go through that process again. She didn't think she could take the pain, but there was nothing she could do to stop him. Her powers were useless with no earth in the room, and although she may have gotten a little stronger from her training with the Titans, it definitely wasn't enough to free herself from the chains. Not to mention that she was still weak from last night.

As Terra sat by herself in darkness, she had to accept the truth that she was powerless to save herself. The Titans wouldn't come looking for her; Beastboy was her only hope. She didn't know if he would help her either, but there was no other way that she would live. All she could do was understand that he may not come to her rescue, and then pray with all of her heart that he would.

_I know this isn't much of a cliffhanger, but this chapter accomplished what it needed to. What did you think of the dream? Did you know it was a dream before you finished it?_

_I was in a daze throughout the writing of this chapter, so I'm sorry if its not my best work. I know that's what happens when you work at 3:00am, but I think that part came out pretty good. I have some good ideas for the near future, so those should be written much better than this was._

_Ick, I just ate a terribly-flavored Starburst._

_Thanks for being so patient with my updates, and I should hopefully resume my usual schedule of one every day or two._

_Terra may be gone in the show, but she's still strong in our fics!_

_TERRA FOREVER! HAHA! (thrusts fist into the air)_


	12. Pressing Matters

_Man, this fic is taking longer and longer to write._

_I don't want to give anything away and I'd hate to take away from the story, but I feel I should tell you that this story is going to be 15, maybe 16 chapters long. I'm sorry if that seems short or if it ruins any of the excitement, but I would HATE to end the entire story too suddenly. As you will see, the plot really picks up from this point and it would ruin the story if I were to drag it out just for the sake of making it longer. And besides, this way I can finish it before school starts. Otherwise schoolwork will take over and I'll be reduced to one of those people that update once every few months. Its sad that school is starting, it slows everything down here on **. It sucks to see so many good fanfictions staying idle for months at a time… EVIL SCHOOL!_

_Well, I'm not gonna ramble with this one because it's late, so:_

The Art and Dance of Reconciliation Chapter Twelve – Pressing Matters

With her powers rendered useless and her movement extremely limited, all Terra could do was sit in darkness, waiting for something to happen. She prayed and hoped, and eventually had fallen asleep. After several hours, she was awaked by the sound of the door being unlatched.

"Ah," the man remarked, "You're awake."

Her breaths heavier as she identified the shadowy figure—Slade—and stared as he placed the helmet with the blue crystal on the floor like he had the last time she'd seen him. He then approached her with the red diamond helmet in plain view, and she immediately recoiled as far back as the chains would allow her, which wasn't more than a few inches.

"Don't fight me, Terra," he said calmly as he walked towards her, savoring the terrified look on her face. Her panting breaths, her slightly pale skin, and her beading eyes all contributed to his thrill, the exhilaration he got from feeding off of innocent fear and sorrow.

He reached out and held her chin with his fingers, and she instinctively tried to pull back. However, the chains held her arms and his grip was too strong for her to move her head. Slade could feel her body trembling in his hand and although she didn't speak, he could hear a faint whimper as he brought the helmet down onto her head and fastened it in place.

While Slade turned and walked back to the other helmet, Terra lowered her head and tried to reach the helmet with her hands, but the chains held her wrists two inches away on both sides and so she couldn't reach the helmet with either hand.

"Beastboy," she whispered inaudibly, "I'm sorry for everything I've done. I'm sorry… Please help me… please." But he never came. A single tear slid down her face as she looked up and saw that Slade had finished fastening his own helmet and was now standing with his finger on his wrist computer.

"You know what comes next," he snickered before punching in several commands on the computer.

The two diamonds began to glow like last time, and then she panted even more heavily when her eyes started glowing as well. With nothing else to do, she desperately struggled against the chains for about two seconds before she was suddenly overwhelmed with pain that surged violently through her body.

Already exhausted from the previous session, Terra felt her powers at their maximum within a few moments and the device began to drain larger gulps of energy. She couldn't take the pain; it felt like her soul was being torn from her body. She thought all of her muscles had been ripped to shreds—her powers were working more than if she had tried to lift an entire mountain. Every part of her body was straining at once, her throat completely dry except for the occasional drops of blood she coughed up. Her lungs were so tense that it was getting harder and harder to expand them.

Eventually, her lungs wouldn't expand and she was once again unable to breathe. She dropped from her knees and onto the ground on her side, her legs curling up into her chest. She tried desperately to inhale, but her lungs seemed to be sown shut and it wasn't long before her horrified face began to turn blue. All the while, her powers kept draining her of more and more energy and putting her body under more and more stress, her muscles and tendons one by one giving out in bursts of searing pain.

A green light had been flashing on Slade's wrist for several seconds that signaled the process' completion. He was now getting his revenge on her for trying to leave him, enjoying the sight of her body twitching on the floor and the agony in her eyes.

Soon, however, he brought himself to terminate the process, leaving her body limp and gasping for air. As he removed his helmet and donned his usual mask, he took a moment to examine himself, as if something had changed. He felt different—enhanced. The process seemed to have been a success, but something could still go wrong. There was one test he would have to make before he could be sure, and it was a test he anxiously looked forward to.

Slade quickly walked over to Terra, lifted her by her shirt to an upright position, and removed the helmet. Her breathing was still sparse and her skin hadn't regained much of its color, but she was conscious enough that her eyes opened slightly to see him in front of her.

"You are a traitor and I would like nothing more than to kill you," he said calmly with a hint of anger in his voice. She was too exhausted for her expression to change, and simply sat there, her head leaning backwards, supported only by Slade's grip on her shirt. "But it'll have to wait while take care of some business." He dropped her and finished with a snicker, "Just in case."

With that, he picked up both helmets and then made his way out the door, leaving Terra alone for her final moments of life. As she lie on the floor, covered in aches, pains, and even a little blood, she knew that her life had come to its end; Slade was going to kill her. As she finally accepted her fate, there was only one thought echoing in her head. It held neither hope nor blame; only astonishment and sorrow.

"_He never came."_

The day had come and gone, surprisingly uneventful. In light of what had happened that night—or morning—everyone had expected Slade to make a move. But when the Titans' computer picked up the same readings the next day at dusk, they knew something was planned for that night.

Scattered about the sitting room, the Titans were amusing themselves with their usual activities. Robin and Cyborg were playing a Teen Titans fighting game, each playing as the other's character. Beastboy had taken on the form of a golden retriever and was playing fetch with Starfire, who enjoyed the cuteness of the dog more than the action of throwing the stick. Raven was meditating near the window, taking comfort in the dark skies and thick clouds that threatened a fierce thunderstorm.

All the Titans had occupied themselves with what were usually pleasurable activities, yet there was an air of anticipation that hung about the room. Something was going to happen; it had always been Slade's style to strike at night.

Robin had replenished his stock of bladed boomerangs and explosives, Cyborg had freshly charged all of his fuel cells and made minor tune-ups on his body, and Raven had spent the day clearing her mind and focusing her powers. Beastboy and Starfire had done what they could to rest up and prepare in their own ways, and now the entire team was primed and ready.

Usually the Titans would have dispersed by eleven o'clock, but the clock would now strike midnight at within a minute. They'd waited all night, and Raven wasn't surprised when she felt a disturbance in the calmness of the night.

"It's time," she announced in her monotone voice without turning from the window.

The other Titans stopped what they were doing and, without a word, joined Raven in watching out the window at the city before them. There was silence—one last moment of peace—until several watches beeped simultaneously. Suddenly, a giant cloud of dust could be seen in Jump City and one of the skyscrapers began to collapse to the ground, its landing hidden behind the thick wall of buildings. No sound ever reached the Titan's Tower, and so it was Robin who broke the silence.

"Titans, go!"

Within minutes, the Titans had arrived on the scene at Jump City, but they had little time to survey the situation. There weren't any bodies to be seen because the densest part of the city was the business area—empty long before midnight. Still, ruble and debris lay scattered along the streets, and several of the buildings were either covered in cracks and holes or completely destroyed.

The Titans' eyes darted back and forth, frantically searching for what was causing this destruction. The ground rumbled and they looked to see a building two blocks to the right begin to fall sideways. In the next instant, a large cloud of dust and debris came shooting out through the streets and alleys and flooded the entire area. Robin and Cyborg could only turn away and shield their faces while the remaining Titans took to the air.

"Azerath… metrion… zynthos!" Raven chanted, focusing her powers to envelope the lower half of the building in blackness. Its fall slowed down slightly and she floated closer while Starfire flew directly up to the wall and tried to push it back up.

Beastboy, having morphed into his usual hawk form, was now hovering in the air and trying to think of an animal that could somehow help to catch of falling building. His thoughts were interrupted, however, when he noticed a figure hovering in the air behind the cloud of dust. It took a second to identify what he'd seen, but as soon as he did he froze—his mind filled with an endless array of emotions.

He unconsciously returned to his human form and landed back on the ground. He may have been back in the dust cloud, but now that he knew where to look, he could easily see the nightmare before him.

"Beastboy, what's wrong?" Robin asked, seeing his friend speechless and staring into the dust.

"You alright, man?" Cyborg added, approaching him and trying to shake him out of it.

Without speaking or looking away, he pointed to the figure he'd seen. Robin and Cyborg followed his finger and soon saw what he'd seen, also overcome with shock.

Raven was struggling hard and had managed to keep the building still, but could barely hold it up for any longer. Starfire had also gotten a grip and was pushing with all her might, and the building was slowly beginning to rise. However, the wall began to dent where Starfire was pushing, and suddenly the bricks gave out completely. Raven could support the new weight and the building came down fast, Starfire slipping through the building and out a window on the other side. As the building came crashing down, another dust cloud kicked up and the area became un-navigable once again.

The two girls hovered in the air, waiting for the dust to clear up. Time seemed to drag on forever as the breeze tossed the dust to and fro, but eventually it moved in a way that revealed the figure floating several stories above the street. The moment they identified him, they noticed something that shocked them the way the other Titans had been.

"No way!" Cyborg exclaimed.

"How is that possible?" Star gasped.

"Shit…" Raven muttered.

Robin and Beastboy, however, were silent. Something was radically different about the image in front them, and only they knew the full extent of its horror. They'd been wrong; they'd made a huge mistake. Robin turned and looked at Beastboy, who was too stunned to even blink.

"Beastboy," he began, not knowing what else he could say.

That alone, however, was enough to jolt Beastboy back to life with a look of unshakable determination on his face. Saying nothing, he transformed into a green cheetah and hid behind the last of the dust cloud as he silently ran off, disappearing into an alley.

Only seconds after he'd left, the remainders of the dust dispersed, giving the Titans a clear view of their opponent. It was Slade in the center of the road, but he wasn't standing on the ground. He was standing on a boulder, floating six stories in the air. His hands and eyes glowed a bright gold.

"The day has finally come," he announced. "The fall of the Teen Titans."

_Does everybody see what happened? You probably do, but if not then you'll see next chapter:_

_TEEN TITANS vs. SLADE – the final showdown! Or is it?_

_Again, no rambling because it's almost 2:00am and if I'm typing this then I haven't even gotten online yet…_

_Thanks for all your reviews and suggestions, and keep them coming. I'm pretty sure I'm up to date on all your stories, so we all appear to be in good shape._

_Talk to ya later!_


	13. On the Way Down

_Getting closer to the finish line… not that I want this to end, but I'm not writing a soap opera you know._

_Now that I've made everybody's day all happy-like, I'll tell you that I decided to put a song in the background of this chapter. I only use the chorus once—at the end—because it works out better that way. Maybe you've heard of it. It's called "On the Way Down," by Ryan Cabrera. Download it, it is **the** best song from Terra's POV._

The Art and Dance of Reconciliation Chapter Thirteen – On the Way Down

_[Ryan Cabrera – "On the Way Down"]_

When the last of the dust had cleared, Slade noticed that there were only four Titans in front of him. It didn't matter, though; they would be that much easier to defeat, and he would find the shape-shifter soon enough.

Robin and Cyborg stood on the ground and Raven and Starfire hovered in the air, slightly higher than he. They were all motionless, stunned by what they saw.

"How do you like my new powers?" Slade called down to them, the boulder he was standing on slowly lowering to the ground as he spoke. "They're quite… earth-shaking, wouldn't you say?"

With that, he threw his arms up into the air, causing the road to split down the middle. Robin and Cyborg easily jumped out of the way, also dodging several pebbles that had been hurled at them.

"That's what those diamonds were for!" Robin shouted at him. "You stole those powers!" Everything had now been made clear to the other Titans, who gasped once again in shock.

"Not stole," Slade corrected. "Copied. But it makes no difference. Her powers are mine now, and your time has come!"

Suddenly, the segment of cement that he'd been standing on tore out of the ground and quickly raised six or seven stories up, along with a dozen other slabs of asphalt from the road that surrounded him.

"Titans, go!"

All at once, the Titans quickly closed in on their opponent. Cyborg got a running start and leaped up onto one of the floating blocks of pavement, and Robin had gripped another one with his grappling gun and was now swinging up towards Slade. Starfire charged down at him, showering him in a barrage of green energy blasts from her hands and eyes while Raven tore out a streetlight and had flung it at him like a spear.

Slade was ready, though, and first broke one of the floating boulders into smaller rocks that intercepted every one of Starfire's blasts. He then brought a segment of asphalt in front of him as a shield that blocked Raven's streetlight and sent it ricocheting into the window of some building. He then summoned a large boulder and swung it around to smash into both girls—crashing through a brick wall and into a nearby office building.

Suddenly, Cyborg landed on the same platform as Slade and aimed his sonic blaster at him point-blank. Slade's reflexes were quick, though, and he brought his own arm up to fire his thermal blaster at the same time. The two attacks collided in a bright explosion, sending both fighters flying off the platform and smashing into other slabs of cement that were floating behind them. They both recovered quickly, but Slade was faster as he flipped Cyborg's platform upside down and then dropped it, sandwiching him under it.

"Ah!" Robin shouted as he came swinging up out of nowhere and kicked Slade in the side of the head, sending him flying off his boulder. He twisted to land on his feet on another floating platform, and the two commenced in a fist-to-fist fight, bouncing and leaping from platform to platform.

Slade had the advantage, though, easily blocking most of Robin's attacks and countering with his own. Growing frustrated, Robin leaped up with his Bo staff but was blindsided by a boulder that slammed into his chest from the side. Stunned by the hit, he plummeted back towards the ground and landed on the road with a thud.

"Robin!" he heard somebody call to.

Wincing in pain, he opened his eyes and was shocked to see a large rock falling straight down towards him. Unable to move much because of his injury, all he could do was hold up his staff above him in defense while the rock neared its target. He could see several green energy blasts and sonic waves shoot by, but they all missed the speeding rock as it came crashing down onto him. The Bo staff held for only an instant and absorbed only a little shock before it snapped and the rock met its target.

Time froze and the Titans watched in horror as blood splashed up and splattered on the road. The rock than rolled off to the side, revealing Robin's limp, twisted body, his uniform torn and covered in blood. He gasped for a second, his left fingers twitching, and then fell still and silent.

"Robin!" the other Titans cried out, racing over to him and praying that he was unconscious and not dead.

Slade had other plans, though, and hurled several large boulders at them that swept them off their feet and crashing into nearby buildings.

There was silence, and Slade smirked. The process had been successful; nothing had gone wrong. He would enjoy killing every one of the Titans, and then the traitor he held prisoner. He couldn't wait to finally be rid of these teenage "super heroes" and then exact his revenge on the girl. He would finish his business here, and then she would suffer for her treason.

Terra sat alone in the darkness, one last time. Slade would be back to kill her, and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

It didn't matter any more; her life had been twisted so tightly that everything had been destroyed. She's made so many mistakes that it was pointless to go on. She could have had it all—friends, security, love… She'd had all of it, but then she'd ruined it. She'd betrayed her friends and sold them to their greatest enemy. She'd lost her pride and her life; Slade had manipulated everything she did. He'd taken the life she'd worked so hard for and then flipped it upside down, making her his apprentice. She'd lost all control over her life, and everything had turned out for the worst.

There was nothing left of her life to live for.

_Sick and tired of this world…_

_There's no more air._

_Tripping over myself…_

_Going nowhere._

_Waiting…suffocating…_

_No direction…I took a dive._

Worst of all, she'd lost her best friend. Beastboy had done so much for her; she'd thought that he'd really loved her. She'd thought for sure that he'd have come to her aid like he always had before, but apparently she'd asked of him one too many things.

She was ashamed of herself for putting him through her life. From the day they'd met, he had to save her and deal with her problems. She dropped rocks on him and messed up his plans, but he didn't mind. He hadn't yelled at her or left her. And if she had to guess, she'd say he probably didn't tell anyone her secret after all. But she'd left anyway—gone to Slade and joined forces with his enemy.

Terra loved Beastboy more than anyone else in the world. He'd always made her feel good, even when she so much to cry for. It had hurt her so much to give away the Titans' information, but when she hung out with him she could forget about that. Even when he'd found out about what she'd done, he still came back for her.

She'd been so upset that she'd tried to kill herself. But then he'd found her and had made everything okay. He'd made her smile and laugh, and had chased away all of her sadness. He'd let her cry into his chest and say what she needed to, and he hadn't left her.

_I've been wondering why,_

_It's all in me._

_Have you always been inside,_

_Waiting to breathe?_

_It's all like sunlight on my face._

_I wake up and I'm alive!_

He'd made her happier than she could ever be on her own, and it brought tears to her eyes to know that she would never see him again. She wanted to thank him for simply existing.

"Beastboy…" she whispered, remembering his face when he'd smiled at her days ago.

She'd thought then that her life would finally be a happy one; that she'd finally found someone who she could love and be loved back. But once again, it was stolen from her, and now she was fated to die alone. She would never be able to tell Beastboy how much she loved him and how thankful she was for everything he'd given her.

Another tear slid down her face. She was going to die today, and she would never see Beastboy again.

A green falcon raced through the sky, the bloody battle left far behind. The cold night air tore painfully at his face, but he didn't care.

How could he have done this? She hadn't run away!

She'd been in Slade's hands all this time, and he'd done nothing! He'd said he'd always been there for her, but he'd left her again. Now, she may have been dead for all he knew. He would never forgive himself if she were dead, or even hurt in any way.

He couldn't bear to think of what may have happened to her, especially considering that her captor was Slade. That man would do anything to her, and probably had. Beastboy would never forgive himself if anything had happened to her, but his logic told him that the worst already had.

She'd disappeared days ago, giving Slade more than enough time to kill her. And he wouldn't have done it easily; he'd have made it as painful and prolonged as possible.

"_Terra didn't deserve that!"_ he thought, approaching the mountains that usually appeared only a backdrop to the city. The thought of her being tortured to death first filled him with rage as he scolded himself, _"I said I'd be there for her; how could I have left her like that?"_

He wondered if she would forgive him, which triggered a harsh realization: A dead person cannot forgive someone. The thought of Terra being gone forever was not something Beastboy could accept. It had only taken the last few days for him to see that he couldn't live without her; he'd been unable to focus on anything and he couldn't even sleep without her haunting him.

He'd let her down. She'd been kidnapped, and he'd thought she'd run away. He should have known something was wrong; why would she have run away? It made him feel infinitely worse to know that she'd probably been depending on him to save her and he'd never shown up. And now he was too late.

He wouldn't accept it. He refused to let her be gone. _"It's never too late."_

Spotting a small mob of robots on the ground below him, he knew he must be close. Not wanting to give them a chance to fight back, he flew directly above them and then morphed into a giant elephant. He came crashing down and crushed four robots before transforming into a gorilla and wiping out the remaining six. He was in no mood to fight.

Wandering away from the pile of circuits and scrap metal, Beastboy shrunk down into his wolf form and searched for Terra's scent. He found it soon enough and, though it was faint, it felt as if he'd regained a missing part of himself. He still wasn't whole, however, and so he trotted forward several meters, following her scent, until it stopped short at a cliff side. He was unsurprised by the idea of a hollow mountain; he wouldn't be fooled again.

Terra lay on the floor, still contemplating her life and her death.

Her thoughts were disturbed, though, when a crashing sound could be heard in the distance, followed by the sound of footsteps. She got up on her knees, surprised that Slade had returned so quickly.

Her heart raced and her breaths grew thin; the time had come. He was going to kill her. The footsteps stopped just outside her door, and she knew who stood behind it.

How would he kill her? He wouldn't grant her an instant death by gun; maybe he'd use a knife. She hoped that he wouldn't turn her powers against her again, but she knew that whatever he did would be extremely painful.

The latch behind the door was unlocked, and she let out a faint whimper and backed up as far as the chains would let her.

Her eyes must have been deceiving her because the figure in the doorway was shorter than she'd expected. Her eyes struggled to focus, and when they did she almost didn't believe them.

"Beastboy!" she cried, her eyes watering with joy and her lips forming their first smile in days.

"Terra," Beastboy whispered, so overwhelmed that he could barely speak.

He ran over to her and knelt down, immediately getting to work on freeing her left wrist. Her hand was trying to reach out to him, pulling the chain to its maximum length. He could hear her breathing heavily as he worked on the lock, and her hand wrapped around him the instant it was free.

He was surprised when she held his head in her hand and immediately pressed her lips hard against his; there would be no interruptions this time. He quickly put his arms around her and kissed back, his soul finally complete. He could taste the blood in her mouth, but he didn't care; nothing had ever felt more right.

All of Terra's fears had been lifted, her pains cured. She wasn't going to die; he'd come for her after all, and now she'd never let him go. With her one free arm she held his face tightly against hers; he'd given her a happiness beyond anything she'd ever felt before, and she wouldn't give him up for the world.

_I was so afraid,_

_Of going under…_

_But now, the weight of the world,_

_Feels like nothing…_

_No, nothing!_

_All that I wanted,_

_All that I needed now…_

_**On the way down,**_

_**I saw you, and you saved me from myself…**_

_**And I won't forget the way you loved me.**_

_**On the way down,**_

_**I almost fell right through…**_

_**But I held on to you…**_

_(Down, down, down)_

_**I held on to you…**_

_(Down, down, down)_

_**I held on to you.**_

_Aww, happy endings… Well, happy anyway. Terra still has some issues to take care of if she ever wants a grip on her life, and so this fic isn't quite done yet. Two or three more chapters…_

_Fred, I'm sorry I forgot to read your story, and I can't now either because once again, it's two o'clock in the morning. How does this keep happening?_

_Oh, and everybody check out Fred the Mutant Pickle's review; it has a link to a Terra petition that (although it won't render any results) is a great way to show our enthusiasm and our support for Terra. Wasn't it kinda sad to watch Deception knowing that Terra was dead. She wasn't just someplace else; she was dead. All during Cyborg's ordeal at the hive, Terra's statue was still sitting alone in that cave. Couldn't they have just killed her normally and buried her? Warner Bros. bastards…_

_Okay, time to go sleepy._

_I'll read all your stuff tomorrow, k?_


	14. Numb

_Okay, we have a really good chapter today. It took me two days to write, maybe three since it's 3:35am as I'm typing this. This is an important chapter (and I'm REALLY tired went to Six Flags Great Adventure all day) so I'm not going to ramble._

_This is the moment of truth: Can Terra and Beastboy live happily ever after, or are the results of "Aftershock Part 2" inevitable?_

_Disclaimer: [I may not own the characters, but let it be known to Warner Bros. that this chapter is MINE.] How's that for a disclaimer? Oh, and the song isn't mine either. It's called "Numb" by Linkin Park._

The Art and Dance of Reconciliation Chapter Fourteen - Numb

_[Linkin Park – "Numb"]_

They broke the kiss, both breathing heavily as they caught their breaths.

"We did it," Terra said happily, her arm still wrapped around Beastboy's shoulder.

He continued to hold her and grinned as he replied, "No interruptions." She smiled and hugged him, and they sat there in each other's arm for a while, unable to get enough of each other.

Eventually, they separated and Beastboy got to work on the remaining chains.

"I was beginning to think you weren't coming," Terra admitted, watching him as he worked.

"I said I'd always be there, right?" he replied, freeing her arm and starting on her ankles.

She nodded. Slade had been wrong; he did love her. As she felt her ankles slide free, she knew that he'd saved her again. She was no longer held captive; she wouldn't have to worry about Slade coming back. That man had ruined her life, but now Beastboy had come and fixed it.

Beastboy took this time to truly look at Terra. She sat on her knees on the floor, with several bloodstains on her clothing, which was slightly tattered and dirty. There was a hole towards the top of her shirt and through it he could see a large scar on her chest. The skin around it was covered in dried blood, starting near the center and dragging off to the left.

"Did he do that to you?" he demanded, his anger swelling as he pointed to her chest.

Terra glanced at the wound before looking away, her smile faded. She blushed as she shook her head, her blonde hair hiding her face.

Beastboy's expression softened again when he realized what must have happened, and he immediately felt guilty for putting her through that. Reaching out and touching her shoulder, he said softly, "I'm here now, and I'll never leave you again." She swept her hair back to reveal her face and nodded, accepting his words.

They both knew now that they needed each other. Each had been miserable without the other, but now they were together again.

"We should get back," Beastboy said. "The others might need our help." Terra looked at him quizzically, so he explained, "Slade's learned how to use your powers, Terra. They're fighting him right now, and they could probably use our help." He stood on his feet and tried to gently pull her up, but she didn't move, apparently preoccupied by something.

She'd frozen at the mention of his name. Slade; the man had ruined her life. He'd claimed he could help her control her powers, but right from the beginning he'd manipulated her and made her leave the Titans. He'd tried to make her his apprentice—make her like him. He'd taught her cruelty and betrayal, and in the process had stripped her of all she held dear. He'd taken her friends and her happiness and replaced them with his own qualities—lust and immorality.

She'd tried to escape—tried to get out. She'd called for help, but her cries went unheard. She'd prayed for redemption, but her prayers went unanswered. She'd hid and run as far as she could, but he would always drag her right back in.

He'd almost been successful; she had almost lost it completely. At one point she actually started to hate the Titans, had actually started to long for power. It was her time with the Titans that had prevented her from fully changing, and her time with Beastboy that had brought her back. But Slade wouldn't give up; even after she'd left him, he'd kidnapped her and used her again. Now, he was using her powers to try to kill her friends.

No matter how far she went or whom she was with, he would always be there, trying to take her again. He would always be trying to change her, to make her his apprentice. As long as he was there, she would never be free.

She suddenly stood up, her expression firm. "Beastboy, there's something I have to do." He looked at her with the same quizzical expression she'd given him, and was surprised to see her walk briskly out the door.

Running up to her and keeping pace through the hall, he asked, "What do you mean? What is it?"

She was too focused on her task to put together a response, so as she stepped outside she summoned the land below her out of the ground. Confused, Beastboy transformed into a hawk and flew after her, following her towards the city.

As they soared through the night sky, a bolt of lightening flashed in the distance, followed by a low rumble of thunder. Soon, rain began to pour from the sky, first lightly and quickly building up into heavy sheets.

Upon nearing the city, they could make out several pieces of the fight up ahead. Only two figures remained, each flying in the air high above the city. Small objects seemed to be floating around as well, most brown and some covered in blackness. Both fighters flew rapidly and occasionally collided, but spent most of their efforts dodging the floating objects. Then, another brown object came hovering upward, but off in the distance. Picking up speed, it moved in quickly and struck the caped fighter in the back of the head, who immediately fell limp and began to fall to the ground. A faint trail of dark blood could be seen as she plummeted downward, disappearing amongst the buildings before landing hard on the ground.

"_Raven!"_ Beastboy thought, watching as the remaining figure slowly lowered himself to the ground, also disappearing down into the labyrinth of skyscrapers.

"Beastboy," Terra began, her eyes still fixed on the city ahead of her. "I could never repay you for what you've done for me." He couldn't reply in his hawk form, so she went on, "But there's something I have to do for myself. If I'm ever going to be free, then I gotta face Slade—myself. I have to do this on my own; I have to make my own life, or at least die trying." She stopped, considering what she'd just said. She hoped Beastboy understood; she hated that he couldn't say anything back. His eyes hadn't drifted from the scene in front of him, though, and she could tell that he supported her. Still, she had one more thing to tell him—something she hadn't had the chance to say before.

Her eyes watered from both sadness and happiness as she concluded, "Beastboy, you're the best friend that I've ever had, and if I don't make it through this then I want you to know…" she paused, almost scared to finish. "I love you."

Beastboy's hawk face remained emotionless, but he'd heard. And he'd known.

They had entered the city by now, and Beastboy swept down and to the side, slipping out of Terra's view. He would find the Titans and get them to safety, and she would take on Slade. It was her powers that had enabled him to do what he'd done, so it was up to her to make things right.

Alone, she flew down the street more slowly now that she was within range of Slade's attacks, though he had not yet noticed her. Hovering slowly over the street, she stood upright on the boulder and brushed her wet hair off of her face, ready to embrace whatever fate would throw at her.

She took a breath and gathered her strength, lowering the boulder to hover several inches above the street before calling out over the rain, "Slade!"

The man was holding Raven up by her pendant, a stone dagger hovering inches from her throat. He stopped what he was doing and dropped her upon hearing Terra's challenge, and her unconscious form fell limp to the ground.

Slade turned to face Terra and said, "So the traitor returns." He took several steps towards her and then stood still in the middle of the road, raindrops pattering on his mask and shoulders. "Were these the friends you cared so much for? Were these the weaklings you left me for?"

Terra glanced behind her opponent and saw that four of the Titans lay motionless throughout the city. Starfire hung partially out of a broken window, her body bruised and covered in gashes from the glass. Cyborg had been smashed through the wall of a building, and all that could be seen of him was his legs sticking out of the hole in the wall, sparks occasionally sprouting from the knee joints. Raven lay on a pile of debris where Slade had dropped her, badly beaten and mentally drained. Robin lay in the middle of the road about a block away, covered in blood and twisted badly.

All of the Titans lay limp, unaffected by the raindrops above them, yet Terra's face remained emotionless. He thrived on her fear and sorrow, and he would use it to manipulate her the way he always did. This time, however, she would not give him such an opportunity.

The sky flashed and a loud crash of thunder echoed throughout the dark city. She returned her gaze to Slade and said firmly, "This ends tonight."

"Does it?" Slade asked, stepping closer to her. "Your friends are beaten. Why do you still fight?" She said nothing but continued to stare him down, so he added, "I helped you Terra; I saved you. You're my apprentice; you belong with me."

"I don't belong anywhere with you!" Terra shouted suddenly. "I'll never be your apprentice!" Her eyes glowed gold and the ground rumbled as bits of asphalt peeled off the ground and hovered in the air. "You've ruined my life. You've lost me my friends. You've made me do some terrible things, but not anymore!"

_I'm tired of being what you want me to be._

_Feeling so faithless,_

_Whilst under the surface…_

_Don't know what you're expecting of me._

_But under the pressure,_

_Of walking in your shoes…_

She flung her arms forward and the stones in the air rocketed towards Slade, who threw his hands up at the last second and stopped them with his own powers. He sent them back towards Terra, but she'd already brought her boulder high up into the air and was now racing towards him from above.

He cursed, knowing that she knew her powers better than he did. But he was a fast learner, and quickly rose the ground below him to form a wall. Terra's boulder crashed into it and crumpled it to pieces, but he was already floating on his own rock. Bringing several stones with him, Slade flew higher up towards the rooftops. Terra followed suit, and the battle went skyward.

The two were playing a game of dodge ball, pelting stones at each other and flying out of the way, all the while rising higher and higher amongst the buildings. Glass shattered as failed projectiles crashed through windows, and the thunderous booms grew louder as the fight rose up into the sky.

Now flying well above any of the skyscrapers below her, Terra suppressed a slight nervousness; they were extremely high up, but she knew she had to take Slade out once and for all, no matter what the cost. The thunderstorm, now deafening and almost blinding at this altitude, served as an expression of her anger and determination.

However, she hadn't completely recovered from her injuries and the strain was beginning to take a toll on her. Knowing she couldn't drag out the fight any longer than she had to, she brought her arms up and summoned all of her stones to one location, then flung the whole swarm at Slade.

He easily dodged, however, and she was surprised to see that it appeared as if he weren't standing on anything but was simply flying on his own. She looked closer and saw that he had actually split his boulder in half and welded the two rocks around his feet. She did the same to herself before looking up to see Slade charging down at her.

As she prepared an attack, a flash of lightening blinded her eyes. Slade was already upon her when she regained her vision, and she had just enough time to bring both feet up for a double kick. Her opponent had too much momentum, however, and he easily blocked her attack with his armored arm. The rocks on her feet shattered on impact, and Slade took the chance to deliver another punch with his other fist, sending her straight down towards the city below her.

It was fortunate that they'd been so high because it took Terra several seconds to recover from the blow to her face; she could feel her nose bleeding and could taste blood in her mouth. Her attention was directed, however, to the rapidly approaching ground. She was falling faster and faster, so she summoned a boulder from the ground below her. As intended, it lifted up out of the ground and began to fly up to catch her, but it suddenly stopped halfway and then dropped back down. Terra looked up to see Slade's hands glowing and she knew that he'd been responsible.

_Can't you see that you're smothering me?_

_Holding too tightly,_

_Afraid to lose control._

'_Cause everything that you thought I would be,_

_Is falling apart,_

_Right in front of you…_

Now panicking as she plummeted next to the buildings, she called on all her powers to pull a dozen boulders out of the ground, but they were all propelled away in the same way. Then, the street below her tore apart and rose up to form a bed of spikes for her to land on. She tried frantically to summon some rock to catch her, but every attempt was thwarted until it was too late for her to save herself.

It dawned on her that she wasn't simply losing a battle; she was going to die when she landed. There was no more time to think about it, though; her time was now. She squeezed her eyes closed as she plummeted down towards the spikes and could practically feel them piercing her when, she suddenly landed on something soft.

Opening her eyes, she found herself on the back of a green pterodactyl, soaring upward and away from the spikes. Though she was confused as to why he was there, she was also grateful that he'd come to her rescue again. In the heat of battle, she took comfort in his warmth.

The landed on the rooftop of some building, and she hopped off as Beastboy changed back to his human form. Terra appeared confused, as if she didn't know how it was possible for him to be there.

"I know you gotta do this," he said, "but you don't have to do it alone." Terra smiled and brushed her soaking hair out of her face, but was confused again when she looked up and Slade was gone. Everything was silent, except for the soft pouring of the rain.

Suddenly, a giant gray stone whirled past in a blur, smacking Beastboy from the side and smashing him into the wall of the next building.

"Beastboy!" Terra cried, running to the edge of the rooftop and seeing a circular dent in the wall, then peering down to see him lying on the ground several stories below. He now looked like the other Titans had—twisted and bloody, possibly even lifeless. "Beastboy, no…"

Her eyes glowed as she turned angrily to Slade, who was now standing on the other end of the rooftop. "What did you do… what did you do!" She was panting heavily, losing control. She couldn't help it; he'd gone too far.

Knowing what was going on, Slade walked towards her as he replied, "You didn't need him; he was weak. You need control; you need power." He stood before her and finished, "Like me."

_(Caught in the under toe, just caught in the under toe.)_

_Every step that I take,_

_Is another mistake,_

_To you…_

_(Caught in the under toe, just caught in the under toe.)_

_And every second I waste,_

_Is more than I can take!_

_**I've… become so numb…**_

_**I can feel you there.**_

_**I've become so tight;**_

_**So much more aware.**_

_**I'm becoming this…**_

_**All I want to do,**_

_**Is be more like me,**_

_**And be less like you.**_

Terra snapped, her eyes flashing brightly as the dirt on the rooftop instantly spun to form a tornado around her, immediately forcing Slade backwards. "I'm not like you! I don't need control, I don't need power, and I don't need you!" With that, she let her rage take over and the tornado grew faster and stronger, but Slade wasn't moving.

He stood directly in the path of the wind, his arms shielding his face as he tried to walk into the whirlwind. Terra put everything she had into her attack, but little by little he just kept coming, and now that she's started she couldn't stop.

Soon, Slade had made his way up to her and, struggling to stand before her, brought his hands together above his head. Locked in her own attack, Terra was completely vulnerable as he brought his fist down hard onto her face, collapsing her body and sending her straight through the rooftop below them. The tornado faded, and the sound of pouring rain once again filled the city.

Slade stood upright for a moment, regaining himself before stepping forward and dropping down into the hole in the roof. He landed in a dry, empty room—save for the pile of debris that Terra lay on, her motionless body soaked and bloody. He studied her in silence before using his powers to lift the dust in the room and move it onto his prey. She groaned as she was covered in dust, and her eyes shot open when she felt her body being lifted off the floor. Looking down on herself, she saw that he'd used the dust as a sort of shell around her body; with the little strength she had she struggled weakly, but she couldn't move her arms or her legs.

Her breaths were quick and short as she was dragged through the air to the end of the room, where the wall was missing because of a boulder that had hit it earlier. Slade stood at the edge of the room, using his powers to suspend her in the rain, four stories above the ground.

There was yet another silence while Slade watched her struggle, and then he began, "This is what happens when you betray me, girl. This is what happens when you break your promises." He squeezed his hold tighter, beginning to crush her body. She squirmed more, but to no avail.

"I could have helped you," he said, summoning a rock from amongst the debris behind him and sharpening it with his powers. "I could have saved you." The dagger hovered towards her, stopping when it made contact with her throat.

_And I know,_

_I may end up failing too._

_But I know,_

_You were just like me,_

_With someone disappointed in you…_

She tried desperately to move even just her head, but Slade's grip was too strong. She'd fought him for her freedom, and she'd lost.

"But this is your fate, Terra," he concluded. He moved the blade against her throat, savoring her fear and struggling. The dagger began to apply force, and about to make the final swipe. "This is how you die."

Suddenly, a red and black object whirled by, striking the dagger at the last second and knocking it safely away. Terra and Slade looked to the ground and were both shocked at what they saw.

"Not quite!" Robin called up to them, out of breath but alive nonetheless.

"You!" Slade shouted in disbelief. In his surprise he didn't even notice the blackness that was gradually enveloping his body until it jolted him up and into the air before swinging him across the street like a rag doll.

The constrictions faded away and Terra fell slowly downward and landed in Beastboy's arms. He smiled at her and then nodded his head towards the building Slade had landed near. She looked and was stunned to see Raven standing on the rooftop in the rain, her face hidden under her hood and her cloak blowing in the wind.

Next came a bright green explosion, sending Slade's body speeding into a nearby car that also exploded, sending him flying up in the air and landing on the road with a thud.

Terra was amazed. Were they… _helping_ her?

The dust cleared, revealing Slade laying on the sidewalk, dazed as he stumbled to his feet.

"What's happening?" he asked himself. "They were all beaten! How can this be?" His hands glowed as he began to summon several boulders despite his injury, but he was interrupted by an infamous chant:

"Sonic…"

"Boom!"

Slade's attack was eliminated as both Cyborg's sonic blast and Robin's powerful explosive hit their mark with perfect precision. A giant explosion ensued, and everyone had to look away as Slade was lost in the blinding light.

His body landed on the ground, much of his armor disintegrated and his body covered in burns. Unable to move, he slowly opened his eyes and saw a blonde-haired girl standing over him, a solemn expression on her face. Directly above him hovered the dagger that he'd tried to use to kill her. It pointed downward, glowing in the same golden light that was radiating from her eyes.

_**I've… become so numb…**_

_**I can feel you there.**_

_**I've become so tight,**_

_**So much more aware.**_

_**I'm becoming this…**_

_**All I want to do,**_

_**Is be more like me,**_

_**And be less like you.**_

I've… become so numb… I can feel you there…

_I'm tired of being what you want me to be._

I've… become so numb…

_I can feel you there…_

_I'm tired of being what you want me to be._

"Terra…" he began. But there was nothing to say.

"You can't control me any more," she whispered, her eyes watering. She paused, letting a tear slide down her face, then closed her eyes and brought the blade down on its target. "You can't control me any more."

A man lay dead on the ground before her, and she couldn't help but drop to her knees beside him in tears. The Titans assembled one by one and stood silently in a circle around them, saying nothing. Beastboy stepped forward and knelt down, turning her away and holding her in his arms.

Terra wrapped her arms desperately around him and held him close, then buried her face in his shoulder and cried.

_I feel so sad now that it's done. All that remains is the dreaded Epilogue… I wish I could keep it going, but I won't drag it out just to make it longer. This is what it is. Just one update left. :(_

_Excluding the epilogue, how was the plot ending? I need DETAILS; I put so much work into this; I must know! Did the song work? Was the ending too sudden? Too harsh? Out of character? Did it blow? I MUST KNOW!_

_Oh, and I got a few reviews saying the Terra does come back in the comic and that she may be back in Season 5. This knowledge must have evaded my eyes, so if you know anything about this then please tell me. What happens with her and Beastboy, and is she good or, uh, misguided?_

_I really appreciate all your reviews and all your help in general with this fic. I know it ain't done yet, but still. Thanks; I could **not** have done it without all of you._

_I'll forget during the next update, so I wanna say thanks especially to:_

_Exiled-Knight: Your advice has been invaluable to me, and your own fanfiction has been an inspiration. I especially appreciate that you were the first to read my story, even when you disliked Beastboy and Terra. Thanks._

_Brogramn: How ya doin with college, man? You had a lot of good input with this fic, both in reviews and in Terra-confusions. You really helped me to gain a good perspective of where I'm writing from._

_FredTheMutantPickle: I'll never understand that name, and I STILL haven't gotten your fic yet. But if I'm writing a 4:00am, how much free time do you think I have? I'll get to it, and thanks for your insight on my fic, as well as your… shall we say 'lively'… reviews._

_NNY273000: I don't know where you went, but you were one of my firsts. Thanks._

_ShadowCatMage: You had some connection to NNY273000, right? You had some really good advice, and I held that to a pretty high standard considering that you're the author of three good Terra fics._

_CloudPaladin: Remember me, the guy who could have been your internet twin? That was weird. Anyway, you didn't have a lot of reviews, but the few you had and your emails helped me immensely. Thanks for giving the time and energy to help me out like that; I really appreciate it._

_Telesina and ArcherOfTheTitan: You're faithful readers and I'm lucky to get such enthusiastic fans as yourself. It was great writing for you._

_RobinsMyBoy: How did ya like Robin's role in this one? You didn't think I'd kill him, did ya? Robin had more of a role in this story then people may think, and you helped me to get a good understanding of his character. Thanks for that; it really helped._

_I'm sorry if I've forgotten any of the major reviewers; it is now four o'clock in the morning and I am dead tired. I've gotta go sleep, so please review and send me info about Terra coming back in the comics and/or show._

_Sleepy sleepy sleepy…_

_**TERRA LIVES FOREVER! HAHA!** (surge of energy… sleepy…)_

_**-ssj**_


	15. Epilogue

_So this is it: the last update of Angel Tears. I've never finished a fanfiction before. The farthest I've ever gotten was three chapters—out of an estimated ten. I'm glad I got this done before school—which I start Tuesday—but I'm really gonna miss writing it._

_On a good note, "X" was awesome, wasn't it? Killer fight scenes, although they never did tell us who was behind the mask. The tick-tack-toe thing was hilarious, as well as when Beastboy was pouting about not understanding anything. lol, good stuff._

_Well, I want to say that I suck at conclusions, but I also thought that I sucked at a lot of other things that you guys said I'm good at. We'll hope I'm wrong again._

_Here we go. My last update._

_Disclaimer: [You can tell the world isn't fair when I don't own the Titans. Grrr.]_

Epilogue

Robin stood alone in the dim light of the evidence room, taking in the silence of the moment. On the wall before him hung Slade's bloodstained mask, a small hole piercing through the center of its face. The quest was finally over.

The face behind the mask had not been what he'd expected, even when considering the fatal gash that had marred it. Then again, Robin could picture no human face that could possibly reflect a man such as Slade—ravenous, manipulative, merciless… These couldn't even begin to fully convey the man who'd been Robin's rival.

He'd been an evil man; permanently scarring more than one of the Titans, but Robin had also seen in him many of his own qualities—if they could be called such. Cunning, determination, and ruthlessness were evident among them both, and he had to admit that they even shared a certain vengefulness. Both had hated defeat more than anything else and would do whatever it took to get what they wanted.

But that was where they were different. Slade had wanted power and control. He'd wanted to wipe out the Titans and rule the city, and to ultimately create an empire under his command. Any resistance would be eliminated, and those who gave in would live in pain and agony. Robin, however, had wanted nothing but the safety of his friends and the people of Jump City. Every deed he'd ever done—good or bad—had been for this cause. He'd spent countless hours working to learn about Slade and trying to anticipate his tactics; he had to give him one thing: the man had been a genius.

He'd come close to succeeding in his goal to kill off the Titans, but like so many others, he'd been blinded by his gluttony. His evil desire to savor his victory left him exposed. He'd thought he'd easily defeated them, but he'd overlooked one fact that he really should have learned by then: the Titans don't go down easily. He hadn't been thorough in his 'killings,' and with Terra's help, the Titans had finally brought him down.

Although it wasn't Robin's style, he really didn't fault the girl for killing Slade. He didn't presume to comprehend the hell Slade had put her through, but he knew just what it was like to have his voice in the back of your head. It had nearly broken him during his short time as Slade's apprentice; it must have been a thousand times worse for Terra.

Robin took one last look at the mask, then turned around and left the room. The door slid closed and the lights shut off automatically, leaving the mask motionless in the darkness.

Robin enjoyed one last moment of silence as he took the elevator up to the main level.

They had talked it over and acknowledged that Terra's betrayal had deeply scarred the team and had almost brought about its demise. They also saw, however, that she had been confused and had since changed; it was plainly obvious that she was sorry and deeply regretted it her actions. She had tried to redeem herself several times, and the group agreed that her fight with Slade had indeed proven her new loyalty to them. Even after all the torture she'd been through, she'd still found the strength to save the team from certain death.

It was apparent that she regretted her traitorous acts, and she had made great sacrifices to right what she'd wronged. So although there were some unsettled concerns, the Titans agreed in the end that when she was ready, she could rejoin the team as a Teen Titan.

The elevator door slid open and Robin could immediately hear the cries and cannons of the usual breakfast wars as he neared the kitchen.

"Dude, what is your problem with tofu?"

"It's disgusting! It's like eating goo!"

"No it's not! Meat is disgusting!"

"I'm tellin' you, man, nobody wants your tofu waffles!"

"Yeah they do! Right Star?"

Starfire's eyes went wide in surprise, and she slowly backed away from the heaping plate of tofu waffles being shoved in front of her face. "I… uh… I…" she stuttered. She didn't want to hurt her friend, but over the years she had come to 'dislike' his infamous tofu waffles.

"Well?" Beastboy and Cyborg both asked, looming over her as her body shrunk lower and lower.

"Well… I… uh…" she continued, the waffles getting closer and closer. Just then, Robin casually walked into the kitchen and Starfire blurted out merrily, "Ah! Robin has arrived! Perhaps he can settle your dispute!"

Beastboy's and Cyborg's looming forms swiveled around to hold the waffles in front of Robin, but his expression was unchanging. There was a moment of silence as the two breakfast warriors stared Robin down, but he only replied with a simple, "Can I get a protein shake?"

"See? No tofu waffles!" Cyborg gloated, flinging the plate of waffles into the air and out of sight.

Beastboy turned his arm into that of a squid and reached out, catching the waffles and bringing them back. "What do you mean? He didn't ask for your crap!"

"My… 'crap'?" Cyborg repeated, advancing towards Beastboy, who accepted the challenge and advanced as well.

"Friends, friends!" Starfire interrupted, hoping to stop the fight. "One seat remains vacant; where is our new friend?"

Beastboy and Cyborg stopped and untangled themselves, then glanced around the room.

"She's up on the roof," Raven said, "…took my spot…"

"I'll get her!" Beastboy leapt up before anyone else could offer. They had decided to wait for her decision before giving her a communicator. "Don't wait up," he called back as he headed over to the elevator.

The instant the door closed, Cyborg and Starfire grabbed all the tofu waffles on the table and threw them into a pile at its center. Raven ignored the ordeal and Robin merely raised an eyebrow when Starfire nuked the stack with her eyebeams. She and Cyborg wore giant grins as they watched the dancing flames on the table's new centerpiece.

No one said anything after a while, so Cyborg asked, "You think she'll decide to stay?"

"Oh, I hope she does!" Starfire replied enthusiastically.

"I don't know what she'll do," Robin admitted. "She has nowhere else to go, but she might feel a need to get away from us the same way she had to get away from Slade. We'll have to wait and see."

"What if she turns against us again?" Raven asked.

"I don't think that'll happen," Robin replied. "She was confused and Slade was controlling her. But he's not anymore; she got rid of him herself."

The conversation ended, and the Titans ate the rest of their breakfast in relative silence until red lights started flashing on their communicators. They all sighed; time to go to work.

Cyborg put his arm up and spoke into his communicator, "Yo Beastboy, we got work to do." There was no response, and the other Titans watched as he tried again. "Beastboy, come in. Beastboy?"

Hearing something behind him, Robin got up and walked over to the hallway where he found Beastboy's communicator on the floor on the way to the elevator.

"You guys go ahead," he said to them. "I'll get Beastboy and Terra and meet you there."

They stood up and nodded as Raven used her powers to cover the three of them in darkness. Soon their 'vessel' had taken the form of a giant bird that phased through the walls and flew towards the city.

So much for breakfast.

When the doors slid open and Beastboy stepped out onto the roof, he spotted Terra at the far edge of the Tower. She was sitting with her arms around her knees, her blonde hair swaying in the breeze. He would never get over how beautiful she was.

He walked up to her and knelt down, putting his arms around her from behind and resting his head on her shoulder. She held his hands in hers and continued to gaze out at the horizon.

"You okay?" Beastboy asked.

"I guess," she replied, her voice sounding distracted.

She obviously wasn't, and he was pretty sure he knew exactly what was troubling her.

"You're gonna stay, right?" he asked.

"I…" she paused and looked downward. "I don't know."

"Why wouldn't you?" He didn't know if he'd be able to take it if she left again.

"Just look at all the trouble I've caused," she replied. "I betrayed them; I could never ask them to trust me after that."

"But they already do," he countered. She lifted her head as if slightly surprised, but then she lowered it again. He pressed on, "Terra, you've made some mistakes but they're in the past. You've changed since then; I can tell. And they can tell."

She hadn't expected them to want her back; she'd thought their offer was merely out of pity. But she had learned now that they were her friends, and wanted to remain so even after what she'd done. She'd never had parents before, but still had a great family.

Still, there was something on her mind that she hadn't been able to say. She'd felt lost and dazed ever since she'd freed herself, but there was one person who'd always made it better. She turned her head to look at him and asked softly, "Will you stay with me?"

He looked into her deep blue eyes the same way he had that night at the carnival. They plead to him in the same desperate way as well, and he couldn't bear to see her so stressed.

"Of course, Terra," he told her. He hugged her a little tighter and said, "I'll always stay with you." He felt her grip on his hands grow tighter, and a faint smile crossed her lips as she gazed back out on the horizon.

"So… you're gonna stay, right?" he asked again, this time more chirpy. "We got a whole stack of tofu waffles down in the kitchen and I dunno if I can eat them all by myself…"

Terra found herself giggling again; he'd always been able to make her laugh, even during moments like these.

She turned around in his arms and pushed him onto his back. She then lay on top of him, touched their foreheads together, and asked playfully, "How do you do that?"

Beastboy looked over their position and blushed before replying, "It must be a curse."

Terra giggled again before leaning in and pressing her lips to his. He was surprised at first, but when she wrapped her arms around him, he quickly did the same and kissed back. They lay on the floor together, locked in their kiss, unable to get enough of each other.

The door flung open on the other side of the roof, and Robin came running out looking for them.

"Beastboy! Ter—" He stopped short when he saw them. They were far enough away that they hadn't heard him, and even though their faces were hidden behind Terra's hair, it was easy to see what was happening.

Robin stood for a moment before turning around and heading back towards the door; the team would be able to handle this job without them. He stepped into the elevator and disappeared, leaving behind two communicators for the two Titans to find.

~ End ~

_See, I suck at conclusions. Especially big ones like this. Big time, major-league sucking._

_On the good side, happy endings! I was considering having her leave, but as Robin brought up, where would she go? She has everything she needs with the Titans, so there she will stay._

_So to answer the question in my summary, this is what would happened if Beastboy hadn't left Terra at the carnival. Bastard…_

_Nah, I got nothing against BB; he had every right to be mad. It's all Slade's fault, and he got stabbed in the face so HA!_

_Thanks to everyone who's read this story. I really appreciate your time and your advice; I truly am honored and humbled by what you all have done. And I'm not done reading all your stories—maybe now I'll get to yours, Fred._

_Well, I'll keep in touch on all of your review boards, so keep an eye out for me. Till then, see ya!_

_**TERRA FOREVER! HAHA!**_


	16. Rewrites Now Extend Through Chapter 7

**Notification: Rewrite Now Extends Through Chapter 7**

As an update for anyone keeping track, I've added two more rewritten chapters to this story. Sorry it took longer than I thought to get so little done (expected to do three or four chapters in this time), but I pretty much had to start over from scratch for chapter seven. The characters weren't developed very well, but now they should be significantly more human and relatable.

For anyone not aware, I've dusted off this story from eight years ago. I like the characters and the plot, and it continues to get good reviews, but it could be done so much better now and I'm taking a stab at that. Most of this will be revamping and not rewriting from scratch, but the latter may happen for some scenes or chapters.

That's all. Thanks for tolerating my notification post.


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